PARTICIPATION IN PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND SPORT:
SOCIAL GROUPS AFFECTING PARTICIPATION
Social groups= a group of two or more people who interact with one another, share
similar characteristics and collectively have a sense of unity.
GENDER
AGE
ETHNICITY
DISABILITY
SOCIO-ECONOMIC GROUPS
Gender:
o males and females are encouraged to take part in sports in the UK, although there
is still a gender divide in participation
o men are more likely to participate in sport (51%) than women (36%).
o men also more likely to participate in competitive sport (40%) than women (14%)
Barriers to women’s participation:
Body image
Make dominated culture of sport
Lack of opportunities
Lack of confidence
Lack of time
Less media coverage – women’s events generally have a lower profile than men’s
(less female role models to inspire younger generations to take up the sport) –
less media coverage also means less sponsorships, so less opportunities,
therefore less money for women to do sport at a high level
Gender tagging – outdated attitudes about some things being “women activities”
and others being “men activities”. This might affect what sport you decide to take
up
Gender stereotypes – also outdated – a sport ‘not being feminine’ to get
sweaty/muddy/needing aggression. Similarly, stereotypes about masculinity may
mean that boys are expected to play more aggressive sports or mocked for
enjoying activities seen as less ‘manly’
Age:
o 77% of 16-19-year olds take part in one physical activity compared to 30% of
people over 70
o young people have more and wide variety of opportunities (e.g., clubs and PE
lessons)
o part from walking, the number of adults who take part in sport generally decrease
with age
o limits on which sports a person takes (e.g., football team having age categories
like ‘Under 8’s’) also restrictions (e.g., you must be 18 to run the London
Marathon)
Sporting examples and statistics:
Football, running and cycling are more popular to younger age groups, rate of
participation in these sports decreases with age
Participation in swimming and exercise classes remains similar between 16-44
years old, then they fall
Walking is most popular activity with all ages
Most popular age group to participate in bowls is 60-69
Ethnicity:
o participation of ethnic groups varies little for men
o women from white backgrounds are much more likely to participate compared to
women from Chinese, black and other ethnic minority backgrounds
, o taking up a sport bay be influenced by someone’s ethnic background (e.g., cricket
is popular among Asian countries and table tennis is most popular sport in China)
o across sport as a whole – 89% of people are from white backgrounds
Why?
Religious and cultural beliefs (e.g., many Muslim women keep their bodies
covered up. Less likely to participate because of the clothing that’s expected to
be worn)
Religious festivals/days may impact when someone can play a sport (e.g., some
Christians won’t play sport on a Sunday because it’s the Sabbath, so could not
join a Sunday League team
Racism/racial abuse – campaigns against racism have raised awareness about this
(e.g., ‘Let’s Kick Racism Out of Football’ campaign) punishments for players and
fans who are racist are more severe than they used to be
Governing bodies have tried to create more positive role models to inspire
younger generations to participate
Policies like the ‘Rooney Rule’ in American football says that teams must
interview at least one ethnic minority candidate for any head coaching job, this
also helps to create more opportunities
Disability:
o there are more opportunities becoming available for disabled people to
participate in sport
o this allows people to compete against similar groups
o the number of disabled adults participating in sport has rose to 17.2%, but this is
still 20% lower than those without disability
Why?
Having a disability can limit the physical activities you can do
Opportunities and access for disabled people used to be few and far between
Now, many schemes set up to give disabled people more opportunities to exercise
and take part in activities within their physical limits. The schemes focus on
adapting sport to make it more accessible for them (e.g. basketball), creating
sports for disabled people specifically (boccia – wheelchair bowls), and including
disabled and non-disabled people in the same activity (this helps to challenge
stereotyping and they can enjoy a wider range of opportunities
There is now more media coverage for disabled sporting events (e.g., Paralympic
Games have similar amount of media coverage as the Olympic Games)
The media coverage helps people to change their attitudes towards disability and
sport
Helps to create more disabled role models (e.g., Ellie Simmonds), which
encourages more disabled people to get active
Socio-economic:
o more people from higher socio-economic groups (38.7%) participate in sport than
those from lower socio-economic groups (25.7%)
o 32% of Rio’s Olympic Medallists representing Britain went to fee-paying schools
o private schools have excellent facilities (e.g., swimming pools and equestrian
centres) also, people in higher socio-economic groups can pay for top level
coaches which may even be Olympians themselves
Why? + sporting examples:
People with less disposable income (the money you have left to spend after
paying for essentials, e.g., bills and food) are less likely to take part regularly in
sport because:
- Most sports cost money e.g., leisure centres and gyms usually charge. As well
as travelling to the facility costing charge
- Lots of sports (e.g., horse riding, sailing, cycling) require special
equipment/clothing, which can be very expensive
All depends on how much money people can afford to spend
FACTORS AFFECTING PARTICIPATION
SOCIAL GROUPS AFFECTING PARTICIPATION
Social groups= a group of two or more people who interact with one another, share
similar characteristics and collectively have a sense of unity.
GENDER
AGE
ETHNICITY
DISABILITY
SOCIO-ECONOMIC GROUPS
Gender:
o males and females are encouraged to take part in sports in the UK, although there
is still a gender divide in participation
o men are more likely to participate in sport (51%) than women (36%).
o men also more likely to participate in competitive sport (40%) than women (14%)
Barriers to women’s participation:
Body image
Make dominated culture of sport
Lack of opportunities
Lack of confidence
Lack of time
Less media coverage – women’s events generally have a lower profile than men’s
(less female role models to inspire younger generations to take up the sport) –
less media coverage also means less sponsorships, so less opportunities,
therefore less money for women to do sport at a high level
Gender tagging – outdated attitudes about some things being “women activities”
and others being “men activities”. This might affect what sport you decide to take
up
Gender stereotypes – also outdated – a sport ‘not being feminine’ to get
sweaty/muddy/needing aggression. Similarly, stereotypes about masculinity may
mean that boys are expected to play more aggressive sports or mocked for
enjoying activities seen as less ‘manly’
Age:
o 77% of 16-19-year olds take part in one physical activity compared to 30% of
people over 70
o young people have more and wide variety of opportunities (e.g., clubs and PE
lessons)
o part from walking, the number of adults who take part in sport generally decrease
with age
o limits on which sports a person takes (e.g., football team having age categories
like ‘Under 8’s’) also restrictions (e.g., you must be 18 to run the London
Marathon)
Sporting examples and statistics:
Football, running and cycling are more popular to younger age groups, rate of
participation in these sports decreases with age
Participation in swimming and exercise classes remains similar between 16-44
years old, then they fall
Walking is most popular activity with all ages
Most popular age group to participate in bowls is 60-69
Ethnicity:
o participation of ethnic groups varies little for men
o women from white backgrounds are much more likely to participate compared to
women from Chinese, black and other ethnic minority backgrounds
, o taking up a sport bay be influenced by someone’s ethnic background (e.g., cricket
is popular among Asian countries and table tennis is most popular sport in China)
o across sport as a whole – 89% of people are from white backgrounds
Why?
Religious and cultural beliefs (e.g., many Muslim women keep their bodies
covered up. Less likely to participate because of the clothing that’s expected to
be worn)
Religious festivals/days may impact when someone can play a sport (e.g., some
Christians won’t play sport on a Sunday because it’s the Sabbath, so could not
join a Sunday League team
Racism/racial abuse – campaigns against racism have raised awareness about this
(e.g., ‘Let’s Kick Racism Out of Football’ campaign) punishments for players and
fans who are racist are more severe than they used to be
Governing bodies have tried to create more positive role models to inspire
younger generations to participate
Policies like the ‘Rooney Rule’ in American football says that teams must
interview at least one ethnic minority candidate for any head coaching job, this
also helps to create more opportunities
Disability:
o there are more opportunities becoming available for disabled people to
participate in sport
o this allows people to compete against similar groups
o the number of disabled adults participating in sport has rose to 17.2%, but this is
still 20% lower than those without disability
Why?
Having a disability can limit the physical activities you can do
Opportunities and access for disabled people used to be few and far between
Now, many schemes set up to give disabled people more opportunities to exercise
and take part in activities within their physical limits. The schemes focus on
adapting sport to make it more accessible for them (e.g. basketball), creating
sports for disabled people specifically (boccia – wheelchair bowls), and including
disabled and non-disabled people in the same activity (this helps to challenge
stereotyping and they can enjoy a wider range of opportunities
There is now more media coverage for disabled sporting events (e.g., Paralympic
Games have similar amount of media coverage as the Olympic Games)
The media coverage helps people to change their attitudes towards disability and
sport
Helps to create more disabled role models (e.g., Ellie Simmonds), which
encourages more disabled people to get active
Socio-economic:
o more people from higher socio-economic groups (38.7%) participate in sport than
those from lower socio-economic groups (25.7%)
o 32% of Rio’s Olympic Medallists representing Britain went to fee-paying schools
o private schools have excellent facilities (e.g., swimming pools and equestrian
centres) also, people in higher socio-economic groups can pay for top level
coaches which may even be Olympians themselves
Why? + sporting examples:
People with less disposable income (the money you have left to spend after
paying for essentials, e.g., bills and food) are less likely to take part regularly in
sport because:
- Most sports cost money e.g., leisure centres and gyms usually charge. As well
as travelling to the facility costing charge
- Lots of sports (e.g., horse riding, sailing, cycling) require special
equipment/clothing, which can be very expensive
All depends on how much money people can afford to spend
FACTORS AFFECTING PARTICIPATION
