- Lars Erik Espedalen is a PhD candidate at the Institute for Sports and Social Science.
- On January 22, he will defend his thesis: "Organized sport in the lives of young Norwegians: Participation, exit, and social inequality"
- Read the full thesis (nva.sikt.no)
- Watch the defense live on NIH's YouTube channel
About the study
Organized youth sports hold a strong position in Norwegian society and family life. In the Norwegian media landscape and in many sports clubs, dropout from youth sports and the high costs of participation have often been on the agenda as a problem that needs to be fixed.
But why do young people actually quit sports? Is it a problem? And for whom? And should all young people really be involved in sports?
One answer found in research is that young people need to experience a sense of mastery, social belonging, and participation in decision-making to thrive in sports. They quit if they do not experience enough of these factors. And if a family has limited financial resources, it becomes more difficult to afford joining a sport or continuing participation. Much important research has been conducted on how coaches can facilitate youth sport environments characterized by experiences of mastery, social belonging, and participation.
Nevertheless, a perspective is often missing in both practice and research: how is dropout from youth sports actually connected to everything else that is happening in young people’s everyday lives?
In this dissertation, I have analyzed approximately 3,000 written short responses from young people to questions about why they participate in organized sports and why they quit. I have also examined differences between young people with varying family resources and different cultural backgrounds regarding why they stop participating in sports. Finally, I have interviewed 40 parents involved in cross-country skiing and football about the demands and joys of sports, and how money is experienced as an entry point to both demands and joys.
The results of the four papers taken together contribute with two critical insights to the
research field. First, paper 1 and 2 show that youths have extremely diverse reasons for doing organized sports and to some extent this diversity is reflected in the number of roads out of organized sports. The implication is that it is pressing to develop models of sport motivation and exit that encompass this diversity. Second, paper 1, 3, and 4 show three ways out of sport that appear particularly problematic: injuries and illness, disintegration of social groups, and expenses related to travelling and equipment. These roads out of sport should be understood from the distinction between a heavy and light form of sport appreciation in paper 2: Many youths appreciate ‘light’
benefits of sports such as fun, health, staying in shape and having an activity structuring part of their leisure time. Thus, building a social framework around sport ‘light’-benefits would be a possible way forward in practice supported by research that elaborate on how to retain youths who are heavily involved but face abrupt challenges in sport such as injuries, social disintegration or lack the economic muscles from home to support their engagement.
Program
- 10:15-11:00 Trial lecture: “How can ‘light’ sport alternatives reduce social inequalities in sport? A discussion based on international research.”
- 1:00-4:00 PM: Defense of the thesis: Organized sports in Norwegian youth life: Participation, dropout, and social inequality
Committee:
Chair:
Professor Josef Fahlén, Institute for Sports and Social Science, NIH
Opponents:
Professor Arve Hjelseth, Faculty of Social and Educational Sciences, NTNU
Professor Kristin Walseth, Faculty of Teacher Education and International Studies, OsloMet
Supervisors:
Main supervisor: Professor Ørnulf Seippel, Institute for Sports and Social Science, NIH
Co-supervisor: Professor Åse Strandbu, Institute for Sports and Social Science, NIH
The defense will be led by:
Rector Aage Radmann
Practical Information
The defense is open to all and will be streamed on NIH's YouTube account.