IJERPH, Vol. 21, Pages 342: Why Do New Parents Stop Practising Sport? A Retrospective Study towards the Determinants of Dropping Out after Becoming a Parent

IJERPH, Vol. 21, Pages 342: Why Do New Parents Stop Practising Sport? A Retrospective Study towards the Determinants of Dropping Out after Becoming a Parent International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health doi: 10.3390/ijerph21030342 Authors: Hidde Bekhuis Jasper van Houten Femke van Abswoude Despite the known health benefits of sport, recent studies showed that parenthood is related to decreased sport participation. Changes in sport behaviour after becoming a parent have been explained by gender or with the rational resource perspective of limited time and energy. However, the latter is mostly theoretical, since empirical insights on resource mechanisms are scarce. We want to improve and go beyond these explanations by investigating them empirically and by examining sport socialisation during the formative years as an alternative explanation. Consequently, our main objective is to explain changes in sport participation after becoming a parent with gender, limited resources and socialisation with sport. To this end, we employ representative Dutch survey data of new parents (n = 594), containing detailed information on sport careers and sport socialisation, as well as babysitter availability, partner support and physical discomfort after childbirth. The results of the logistic regression analyses show that, besides gender and resource mechanisms, sport socialisation and social support seem to have a great impact on sport behaviour when people becom...
Source: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research