I I?! “III luflfllulfllllllflll w . LIBRARY Michigan State Universfi)’ This is to certify that the thesis entitled Sex and Age Differences In The Recreational Sport Participation of Children presented by Crysta] Diane Fountain has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for Master of Arts degree in Physical Education M1 1.4 l/[fiflj’éé/ f/ Major professor Date July 14, 1978 0-7639 OVERDUE FINES ARE 25¢ PER DAY PER ITEM Return to book drop to remove this checkout from your record. ,4 -\ .1- ./ Jun 09 '39!!! ' SEP 2 «I ,_ A '87 :3 w 1 - W1) A 145 “:37 “mg“ 1‘ V I \ :123'3‘TL-l A. SEX AND AGE DIFFERENCES IN THE RECREATIONAL SPORT PARTICIPATION OF CHILDREN By Crystal Diane Fountain A THESIS Submitted to ‘Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation 1978 ABSTRACT SEX AND AGE DIFFERENCES IN THE RECREATIONAL SPORT PARTICIPATION OF CHILDREN By Crystal Diane Fountain This study investigated recreational sport interests of Michigan children 5-16 years old. Questionnaires were administered in class- rooms to students aged 11-16 years, while parents of younger children completed identical surveys at home. Over half of the sample participated in the ten most popular activities, while over one-third was represented in the top twenty sports for both sexes. Although females participated in sports typ- ically considered masculine, males indicated higher participation in team sports, while females chose individual games more often. Since 1898, both sexes have expanded their participation. In- dividual and semi-contact team games indicated similar trends across time for both males and females, while involvement in contact sports was more disparate. With the exception of golf, table tennis, tennis and weight lifting, patterns of participation by age were similar for both sexes. Sports were grouped into three categories according to their involve- ment across chronological age: a) levels of participation increased, peaked and then leveled, b) levels of participation increased peaked and then declined and c) levels of participation increased throughout. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express my sincere appreciation to Dr. Vern Seefeldt, Dr. John Haubenstricker and Dr. Kwok4Wai Ho for their invaluable advice and guidance in the preparation of this study. I wish also to thank all the members of the Youth Sports Study for their assistance in the data collection. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES O O O O O O I O O O O O O O O 0 LIST OF FIGURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER I II III mE PROBLEM O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 Statement of the Problem . . . . . . . Significance of the Study . . . . . . . Research Hypotheses . . . . . . . . . . Research Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scepe of the Investigation . . . . . . Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . REVIEW OF LITERATURE . . . . . . . . . Physical Sex Differences . . . . . . . Behavioral Sex Differences . . . . . . Sex Differences in Play . . . . . . . . Age Differences in Play . . . . . . Trends in Male-Female Play Differneces Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RESEARCH METHODS . . . . . . . . . . . Background of the Study . . . . . . . . Sampling Procedures . . . . . . . . . . Preliminary Information . . . . . . Sampling Criteria . . . . . . . . . Geographic Regions . . . . . . . . Basic Sample Unit . . . . . . . . . Selection of School Districts . . . Contact with Superintendents . . . Selection of Alternate School Districts . . Selection of Representative Schools Private School Selection . . . . . Research Design . . . . . . . . . . . . Conduct of Treatments . . . . . . . . . Independent Variables . . . . . . . . . Dependent variables . . . . . . . . . . Processing the Data . . . . . . . . . . iv Within Districts Page vii viii O‘U‘lwaH 10 12 18 21 21 23 23 24 25 25 26 26 29 29 31 31 31 32 32 33 34 Page Solution of Subproblems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Recreational or Free-Play Activities . . . . . . . . 39 Intramural Sport Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Interscholastic Sport Activities . . . . . . . . . . 40 Agency-Sponsored Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Pilot Testing of the Survey Instrument . . . . . . . . . 41 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 IV RESULTS AND DISCUSSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Responses to the Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Extent of Participation in Recreational Sports . . . . . 45 Degree of Participation by Sex . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Categorization of Sports on the Basis of Sex . . . . 52 Historical Comparisons in Recreational Sport Participation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Comparison by Sport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Trends in Recreational Sport Participation on the BaSis Of Age 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 61 Differences in Participation by Age on the Basis Of sex 0 O O O O O I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 69 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Comparisons by Sex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Historical Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 V SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS . . . . . . . . 77 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 conclusions . O O C C O C O O O O 0 O O O O O C C C O O O 78 Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 “FENCES . C O C C C C Q C O C O C O 0 C O C O C O C C O C O O 80 APPENDICES A Questionnaires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 StUdent . O O C . 0 . O O O O C C O O O O . O O . . C 83 Parent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 B List of Participating School Districts . . . . . . . . . 91 C Instructions toTeachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 D Form for Recording Missing Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Form for Recording Percent Response . Codi Prototype of Crosstabs Computer Output Data ng Information . . . . List of Activities and Variable Numbers Coding of Data Cards . Recreational Male Participation Statewide by Age Recreational Female Participation Statewide by Age vi Page 100 101 101 103 106 107 107 109 Table 2-1 2-2 LIST OF TABLES Percent of Participation in Selected Agency-Sponsored Sports 0 O O O O O O O O O C I O O O O O O O C O O O O 0 Historical Change in Recreational Sport Participation . Allocation of Basic Sample Units by School Population According to Region 0 O O O O O I O O O O O O O O O O 0 Most Popular Sports--Ranked by Total Percent of Participation--Independent of Age . . . . . . . . . . . Most Popular Sports--Ranked by Often Percent of Participation--Independent of Age . . . . . . . . . . . Sports Differentiating Between Sexes (Differences in TOTAL Percent Participation are 3_15 Percent) . . . . . Sports Differentiating Between Sexes (Differences in OFTEN Percent Participation are 3 15 Percent) . . . . . Historical Comparisons in Recreational Sport Involvement Sports with Participation that Increased, Peaked, then Leveled Throughout Ages 5-16 Years . . . . . . . . . . . Sports with Participation that Increased, Peaked, then Declined Throughout Ages 5-16 Years . . . . . . . . . . Sports with Participation that Increased Throughout Ages 5-16 Years 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 vii Page 10 13 28 49 51 53 S4 55 62 69 71 4-1 4-2 4-3 4-4 4-5 4-6 4-7 4-8 4-9 4-10 4-11 4-12 4-13 LIST OF FIGURES Regions, School Populations and Percent Total POpulation in Each Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Area of Sampling Responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . Example of Hand-Coding of Identification Data . . . . . Statewide Total Male Participation: Independent of Age Statewide Total Female Participation: Independent of Age 0 O O O O C O O O O O O O O I O O O O O O O O O O 0 Historical Comparisons of Bicycling, Swimming and valleYball O O O I O O O O O O O O O I I O O O O O O O 0 Historical Comparisons of Tennis, Bowling and Ice Skating 0 O O O O O O O I O I O O O O O O I O O O O O 0 Historical Comparisons of Basketball, Soccer and Baseball 0 O O O C O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 Historical Comparisons of Football and Wrestling . . . . Comparison of Male/Female Participation by Age in Archery and Ice Hockey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Comparison. of Male/Female Participation by Age in Badminton and Jogging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Comparison of Male/Female Participation by Age in Cross Country Skiing and Synchronized Swimming . . . . . Comparison of Male/Female Participation by Age in Floor Hockey and Ice Skating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Comparison of Male/Female Participation by Age in Kickball and Gymnastics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Comparison of Male/Female Participation by Age in Downhill Skiing and Water Skiing . . . . . . . . . . . . Comparison of Male/Female Participation by Age in mlf and Table Tennis 0 O O O O O O C . O C O O O O 0 viii Page 27 30 36 46 47 56 58 59 60 63 64 66 67 68 7O 72 Figure Page 4-14 Comparison of Male/Female Participation by Age in Tennis and Weight Lifting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM Sports and games are a genuine folk phenomenon in most socie- ties and, as such, have revealed even subtle changes in a culture, its attitudes or in child nature itself (Sutton—Smith and Rosenberg, 1961). The past 30 years have been marked by progressively changing views toward the participation of females in Sport events. Title IX and the inclusion of numerous new Olympic events for women are two evidences of these changing attitudes on both the national and inter- national levels. Canadian girls have begun to play on ice hockey teams in recent years and many American universities are now offering touch football as an intramural sport for women. Therefore, it seemed appropriate to study the sport interests of children in our changing society, especially since social conditioning seems to be a reinforcer of early hormonal effects that cause differences in behav- ior of the male and female (DeVore, 1965). Statement of the Problem The purpose of this research effort was two-fold. First, this study was designed to investigate sex differences in the degree of participation in free-play sports of Michigan school children. A second area of study was to determine age level by sex trends in the incidence of sport involvement for the ages of 5—16 years. A subproblem existed in this endeavor. Construction of a come plete, but concise, survey instrument was needed. The questionnaire was to be the tool of data collection. Significance of the Study Profound changes in the roles of women in society have occurred during the past 30 years and have influenced cultural acceptance of the female in sport. Surveys of the game choices of children have in- dicated that, more than ever, girls are engaging in active sports and are doing so at earlier ages (Cratty, 1974). Will this earlier prac- tice aid the girls in their subsequent sports performance? Only time will answer this question, but it is conceivable that in the past the performance of males has been superior to that of females because males have had the opportunity to participate in sports at younger ages. One of the objectives of this study, then, was to in- vestigate age-level differences between the sexes in recreational play. It is possible that changing cultural norms have had a direct influence on individual interests and lifestyles and on sex-role concepts. According to Mbss and Kagan (1961), the female sex role has been associated negatively with games and sports while the male sex role has enjoyed a positive association. However, environmental or social factors, as opposed to physical ones, were more influential in determining masculinity and feminity in past years (Terman and Tyler, 1954). It seemed appropriate, therefore, to study sex dif- ferences in play activities in our modern culture. Knowledge of recreational interests can provide the necessary background information for experimental manipulation of freeplay activities. Researchers need these observations of natural prefer- ence in order to understand and theorize about the importance of play behavior. Social psychologists have long regarded play as an essen- tial ingredient in the preparation of children for involvement in adult society (Stone, 1965). Therefore, this researcher believed that a study of sex differences in recreational sports participation would be highly beneficial to those who are interested in the genesis and duration of play preferences in children. Such an investigation would provide a scientific basis upon which to modify current curricula in physical education to best meet the needs of the present society. Also, directors of physical activ- ity and recreational programs would have data fromwwhich to under- stand the interests and desires of Michigan school children. By viewing the historical trends in sports participation, these coordin— ators could project future requirements for facilities, equipment and instruction in recreational sports programs. Research Hypotheses It was hypothesized that: l) The percent of male participation in rough, contact sports would be greater than that of females. 2) Differences in patterns of recreational sport participation between the sexes would have decreased from that of earlier investigations. 3) The number of sports categorized as female or Eggg_would have increased from that of previous studies. 4) A high degree of recreational participation will occur at the young ages in most sports with the greatest frequency of participation occurring around 12-14 years of age. A level- ing off or slight decline would occur until age 16 years. Research Plan Data were gathered via a questionnaire administered to students in a random sample of 89 districts of Michigan public and private schools. Parents of children ages 5—10 completed the survey, while students aged 11-16 years completed the questionnaire in the classroom. A pilot study of six schools revealed that children below the sixth grade had too much difficulty in understanding the instrument to pro- vide accurate completion in the classroom. Therefore two instruments were developed, one for the student and one addressed to the parent (see Appendix A). Thirty-five recreational sports were listed and after each item the subject, or parent thereof, circled an "N," "S" or "0" correspond- ing to the following directions. N (Never) Circle §_if you did not play the sport as a free—play activity during the past twelve (12) months. S (Sometimes) Circle S if you played the sport as a free-play activity one to three (1-3) times during the past twelve (12) months. 0 (Often) Circle Q_if you played the sport as a free-play activity four (4) times or more during the past twelve (12) months. The data were analyzed with the CROSSTABS program from the Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS) on the Michigan State University Control Data Corporation (CDC) 6500 computer. The Crosstabs program provided a joint frequency count and percent distri- bution and printed a separate table for each sex in every sport. Sc0pe of the Investigation This investigation was delimited to participation in recreational sports. School-sanctioned activities and agency-sponsored competition were NOT considered. Factors that could influence level of involve- ment were not studied. Also, subject selection was limited to child- ren 5-16 years of age who were enrolled in the State of Michigan public and private institutions during the school year 1975-76. The following assumptions were made: 1) The data were a true representation of the population of Midhigan school children since selection was random. 2) The subjects were honest in their responses. 3) The collected data were representative of the small percent- age of subjects who failed to return completed questionnaires. The investigator recognized potential weaknesses in the endeavor. One limitation of the study is that not all possible sports were listed on the questionnaire; therefore, the final rankings of sports pertain only to those included on the list. However, an exhaustive attempt was made with review by numerous persons to provide an inclu- sive, but reasonable, list of sports common to the State of Michigan. A second limitation is that changes in ranks that reflect the degree of sports involvement shown in these data may not be purely historical when compared to previous studies. The variances could be due to geographical locale, sampling differences or methodological discrep— ancies in data collection among the studies. Thirdly, errors in the interpretation of sport categories by parents, students and teachers could have resulted. Finally, two modes of data collection were used. Parents supplied one part of the data, while older students themselves completed the questionnaire. Definitions Recreational or free-play Sports will be used interchangeably to designate activities with no official teams, organized leagues or tournaments. These activities could be played in backyards, in the neighborhood, at the local playground, in a YMCA building, on the beach and other similar places. Recreational play may take place alone, with friends or with parents. It does not include school- sponsored programs or community-sponsored competition. School-sponsored programs include activities of a competitive or recreational nature sanctioned by the school. Intramural (Within- school) and Interscholastic (Between-school) competition are both school-sponsored programs. Physical Education classes and unsuper- vised play periods are not school-sponsored competitive programs. ‘Agengy-sponsored activities involve competition between indi- viduals, teams, clubs or groups that are not sponsored by the school. Contests are played according to an approved set of rules under the supervision of officials, such as referees, umpires, timers and judges. Often, these sport clubs or teams are organized into leagues with a specified schedule of games to be played. Play is a perplexing term and can be defined in terms of a motive, its content or its attributes. For purposes of this investi- gation, play is considered to be free behavior not motivated by an extrinsic reward (Ellis, 1973). CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE Indisputable differences on both physical and behavioral para- meters exist between the means of the sexes in our society. These differences most likely are the bases for the disparity in motor skill acquisition between males and females and, hence, in the success-to- failure ratio in sport for children of opposite sexes. Continued par- ticipation in an activity is directly related to the amount of success attained by the individual. Therefore, recreational sport participa- tion levels are probably highly diverse for girls and boys. It was the purpose of this review to: a) examine sexual variances in phys- ical and behavioral factors that could influence sports involvement, b) determine sex and age differences in play and c) discuss the trends in male-female differences in recreational sport participation. Physical Sex Differences Structural discrepancies between the sexes are numerous. Greater height and weight and a more massive skeleton are characteristic of the male. In addition, the male has a larger muscle-to-fat ratio, a higher center of mass, greater proportional limb length, wider shoulders and a more frontal insertion of the head of the femur into the pelvis than the female (Simmons, 1944; Tanner, 1962; Gray, 1973). In skill performance, these characteristics provide the male with greater mechanical advantages including a higher capacity for velocity and strength of motion and more efficiency in movements. In addition to structural parameters, there are physiological factors that vary by sex and usually afford an advantage in performance to the male. The absolute work capacity of the average male is approx- imately 20% greater than that of the normal female. Even when capacity is corrected for body size, performances remain at 15% in favor of the male. Oxygen consumption, vital capacity, blood volume, hemoglobin levels, cardiac output and heart size per body mass all are lower in the female (Edington and Edgerton, 1976). In general, these structural and physiological variances account for males excelling in sports requiring strength, endurance, power and agility while females are superior in movements that require balance and flexibility. Females also do well in sports where size and strength are not critical factors. Therefore, one would expect boys to have a higher incidence of participation in sports such as tackle football, basketball, baseball and wrestling and for girls to be more involved in activities such as swimming, gymnastics and figure skating. The Youth Sports Study of the State of Michigan (Youth Sports Report, 1976) presented data that support these sex differences in degree of sport participation. Table 2-1 shows partial data of agency-sponsored participation as presented in the Youth Sports Report. One can see that the percent involvement of males in the traditional male sports is much higher than that of females. Likewise, in the three sports more suited to the female constitution, the percentage of girls par- ticipating is higher than that of boys. 10 Table 2-1. Percent of Participation in Selected Agency-Sponsored Sports* Sport Male Female Baseball 34.3 6.5 Basketball 17.4 10.0 Tackle Football 12.7 2.4 Wrestling 6.8 2.0 Swimming 13.9 15.6 Gymnastics 4.9 9.6 Figure Skating 2.0 4.6 * Youth Sports Report, 1976, pp. 63 and 77. Behavioral Sex Differences The behavior of immature primates has been shown by several investigators to vary by sex (Harlow, 1962; DeVore, 1965; Hamburg, 1966; Edington and Edgerton, 1976). Infant male primates generally are rougher and more aggressive in play behavior and utilize large muscle groups in their activities; in contrast, the young female dis- plays the tendency to withdraw from rough contact play. These dif- ferences have been recorded as early as two months of age in the monkey and seem to be related to hormonal effects on the central nervous system (DeVore, 1965; Edington and Edgerton, 1976). Aggressive, independent behavior by the male species also has been demonstrated in numerous studies of human children (Spiro, 1956, 1958;Whiting; 1963; Slovic, 1966; Goldberg and Lewis, 1969; Jacklin 11 ethal, 1973). In these investigations, boys (when compared to girls) exhibited greater willingness to take risks in games, demonstrated more active involvement in gross motor activities of an eXploratory, vigorous nature and showed less frustration and more active attempts to overcome barriers when confronted with them. Moreover, the behavior of girls was directed toward fine motor activities and was calmer and more regressive than the actions of boys. Goldberg and Lewis (1969) recorded barrier frustration and crying in the female as well as more dependence on and contact with the mother in a controlled play situation. These male-female differ- ences in play behavior occurred as early as 13 months of age and could possibly be related to a nuance in the mother-child relation- ship for a male versus that of a female child at 6 months of age (Goldberg and Lewis, 1969; Kagan and Lewis, 1965). In addition to behavior variances, thinking styles have been contrasted between the sexes. Fourth grade boys were guarded, evasive and matter-of-fact in their cognition. They also seemed to limit their responses to the task demands or rules. Thinking styles of the girls tended to be more imaginative, introspective, creative and responsive to task changes (Minuchin, 1966). From these data on sex differences in behavior and thinking styles, a researcher might predict higher male involvement in contact and high-risk sports; while, greater female participation in individ- ual, creative situations would be expected. The reader again is re- ferred to Table 2-1 (p. 10) for one confirmation of this prediction in competitive situations for children 5-16 years of age. Additional support for this contention will be discussed in the section pertaining 12 to sex differences in recreational play activities. Sex Differences in Play Sport interest differences between the sexes have been demon- strated in four major studies (Crosswell, 1898; McGhee, 1900; Terman, 1926; Sutton-Smith and Rosenberg, 1961). Each of these investigations yielded rank order lists and frequency counts of the most popular games played by each sex. The number of questionnaire items ranged from 90 in Terman's 1926 study to 500 in Crosswell's 1898 report. In order to ascertain the relevance of these data to the present en- deavor, this researcher excerpted only those sports common to the study at hand and their respective rankings from each check-list and computed a percentage of participation for each activity. Results of this effort were placed in Table 2-2. The reader is cautioned about the limitations involved when viewing these data historically (Sutton—Smith and Rosenberg, 1961). Each of these studies was conducted in a separate geographical locale; Massachusetts, South Carolina, California and Ohio. Data were col- lected differently. In 1898, Children listed their activities from memory while in the later three studies, a prepared list was marked by the subjects. Finally, the resultant rank order lists could be affected by the variance in composition of each survey. Therefore, it behooved us to ignore some of the activities and to look at only the sports, as our data then could verify or refute the perceived historical changes in Sport participation between the sexes. These rank order lists (Table 2-2) indicated considerable re- duction in differences between the sexes in a 62 year span. 13 Table 2—2. Historical Change in Recreational Sport Participation* Boys Girls Sport Rank Percent Sport Rank Percent ,(1898 - Massachusetts) Ball 1 68% Skating 5 41% Skating 4 54% Bicycle 27 9% Football 5 46% Tennis 52 3% Hockey 8 31% Swimming 78 2% Bicycle 15 16% Hockey 120 .8% Swimming 17 12% Horseriding 149 .4% Tennis 39 5% Horseriding 115 .7% Golf 155 .4% (1900 - South Carolina) Baseball 1 68% Tennis 18 8% Football 2 56% Baseball 30 5% Swimming 3 24% Football 54 3% Tennis 22 5% Basketball 63 2% Basketball 26 4% Swimming 71 1% Wrestling 37 3% Golf 106 .6% Wrestling 129 .l% * Adapted from Crosswell, 1898; MeGhee, 1900, Rosenberg and Sutton-Smith, 1960. Terman, 1926; and Table 2-2. (Continued) Boys Girls Sport Rank Percent Sport Rank Percent (1926 - California) Baseball 1 94% Bicycle 3 84% Bicycle 2 87% Baseball 4 83% Football 9 72% Basketball 6 80% Basketball 12 69% Skating 9 78% Skating 14 64% VOlleyball 18 55% Volleyball 16 63% Horseriding 27 49% Horseriding 17 62% Swimming 42 33% Boxing 18 62% Tennis 45 32% Wrestling 19 61% Handball 49 29% Swimming 26 53% Archery 61 18% Archery 29 49% Football 64 16% Handball 35 40% Wrestling 70 12% Tennis 43 33% Boxing 79 8% Soccer 51 27% Bowling 82 6% Bowling 77 14% Skiing 87 5% Soccer 88 4% Table 2-2. (Continued) Boys Girls Sport Rank Percent Sport Rank Percent (1960 - Ohio) Football 1 89% Bicycle 4 88% Bicycle 3 88% Rollerskating 7 85% Basketball 5 86% Swimming ll 83% Swimming 8 83% Skating 19 80% Baseball 9 82% Horseriding 29 71% Horseriding 26 75% Basketball 39 68% Iceskating 28 73% Table Tennis 40 68% Wrestling 31 71% Baseball 57 62% Table Tennis 36 70% Volleyball 62 61% Boxing 41 68% Tennis 66 59% Bowling 45 65% Bowling 83 52% volleyball 51 61% Archery 98 43% Tennis 54 58% Football 102 42% Soccer 93 42% Handball 122 30% Handball 108 37% Soccer 126 28% Skiing 109 36% Skiing 132 24% Wrestling 133 23% Boxing 153 14% 16 Sutton-Smith and Rosenberg (1961) reported rank order correlation coef- ficients (rho) between the sexes of -.023 in 1900, .328 in 1926 and .451 in 1960 for the entire lists. Relationships between the sexes were judged to range from little to slight to moderate, respectively. This author assumed that rho for the modified tabulation of sports only was similar to those obtained for the complete lists. Inspection of Table 2-2 reveals that females have included a greater variety of activities in their play; whereas, the list for the males is more restrictive. Invariably, top-ranked male activities in- dicated a high percentage of involvement in football, baseball and basketball with some swimming and bicycling. However, for girls, the top sports still were ranked below the ones for boys, indicating par- ticipation in play activities other than sports (e.g. dolls). The lists for girls also included more activities than did the boys' lists. Skating, bicycling, tennis, swimming, volleyball, and in 1921, base- ball were among the top sports chosen by female participants. However, more sports were ranked in the top 20 playtime activities by boys than by girls. Lehman and Witty (1927) found that girls had no true sports in their play activities list, although they enjoyed dancing and performing basic fundamental motor skills. Boys in the same study marked eight sports as dominating their recreational life. Swimming was the one sport that showed a definite increase in similarity between the sexes. Female participation moved from 10 and 24 percentage points behind the males' in 1898 and 1926, reapectively, to equal that of the males at 83% in 1960. Also, while the rank position of swimming moved up from 17th in 1898 to 8th in 1960 for males, a change of 67 ranks from 78th to 11th occurred for females 17 during that time. Drastic changes that discriminated between the sexes occurred in another sport. Although rank position for soccer dropped on the list for both sexes, male participation increased 150% between 1926 and 1960. However, female involvement in soccer jumped seven fold during that 34 year span of time. Careful inspection of the data revealed that profound transfor- mations occurred in the type of sport a girl played. In the two earliest studies, rough contact sports accounted for 5% or less of the female involvement. Participation levels increased in 1926 to 83% (Baseball), 80% (Basketball), 16% (Football), 12% (Wrestling) and 8% (Boxing). Furthermore, in 1960, the traditional male sports of basket- ball, baseball, football, wrestling and boxing accounted for levels ranging from 68% to 14%. Sutton-Smith and Rosenberg (1961) stated it was possible that the female willingness to participate in the conventional masculine sports had an upper limit. They reported that in six major sports (Bowling, football, basketball, baseball, wrestling and boxing) in 1926, the girls' preferences were closer to those of boys when com- pared to the first two lists. But, that in 1960, the ranks moved farther apart again, indicating the female aversion to continued play of distinctive masculine games. While this researcher agrees that view may be correct, she believes the rank differences result more from the tendency of females to participate in a larger variety of activities throughout the year in contrast to the tendency of males to become highly involved in a seasonal sport such as baseball, foot- ball or basketball. It was recorded that boys showed more seasonal 18 change in their play than did females because of this tendency (Lehman and Witty, 1927). The extension of the list of female participation in play activ- ities has been documented by others (Rosenberg and Sutton-Smith, 1960). In a study of 187 children in grades four to six, it was found that boys had fewer games that differentiated them from girls than girls had activities that separated them from boys. An increasing female preference for items that were formally male was noted, as well as an increase in the number of games relegated to the neutral or mixed- sex group. A confinement of the male list resulted. This finding was in direct contrast to that of earlier researchers who noted greater variability of the play for the male at all ages (Lehman and Witty, 1927). 'Age Differences in Play Low organization activities such as running and chasing domin- ate the early years of a child's play life (Crosswell, 1898). Motor deveIOpment specialists have stated that basic locomotor patterns and eye-hand coordinations are learned and perfected during the years from two to six (Espenschade and Eckert, 1967, p. 105). Lehman and Witty (1927) reported data for children 5-8 years of age who were enrolled below grade three in school. Only two sports, baseball and football, were played by boys over that entire age range. Basket- ball participation was added at age 7 years. Data for girls revealed that baseball was the only sport participated in from the 5-8 year span. It appears logical, then, that sport participation would be lower at the younger stages and higher with increasing chronological l9 ages. The developmental nature of involvement in skilled pastimes and major Sports has been documented by several investigators (Cross- well, 1898; Furfey, 1926; Lehman and Witty, 1927; Hurlock, 1934; Sutton-Smith, 1959; and Sutton-Smith and Rosenberg, 1961). After eight years of age, competitive play becomes popular as organized athletics begin to predominate. Further verification of these data was found in an investigation of agency-sponsored competition (Youth Sports Report, 1976). These scientists found that the incidence of participation rose around eight years of age in most sports for both sexes. In later youth, games of skill increase and play activity at adolescence is governed by strict rules and regulations in the form of games and athletic contests. Sutton-Smith (1959) stated that prac- tically all play activity of children 11 years of age or older was channeled into organized sports and that games of skill were played most by older children and males. Heavy involvement in sports by males 8-15 years of age was documented by Lehman and Witty (1927). The list of games in which males participated consisted mostly of team sports, with baseball and football ranked first, second or third throughout the age span. From ages 11-13, the composition of recreational sports changed. Boxing and horseback riding fell into desuetude as participation in tennis began at 13 years of age. For the next three years (14-16), tennis was ranked seventh, eighth or ninth on the list of most pop- ular activities chosen by males. Female sport participation, taken from the same study, was low across the ages of 8-15 years. Roller skating, ranked from second 20 to Sixth, was listed during the 8-13 ages while basketball, ranked from third to sixth, was marked from 11-15 years of age. An item asso- ciated with sport, "Doing Gymnasium Work," was ranked fifth or sixth on the list from ages 12-15 years. Although their sport participation was lower, the group of girls from 14 1/2-18 1/2 years of age were engaged in slightly more activities than were males. Support for the contention that girls are involved in more activities than boys was found at even younger ages by other investiga- tors (Sutton-Smith‘gt_§1, 1963). They reported that play scale items were equally distributed between the sexes at the third grade level (approximately eight years). A sudden shift occurred at grade four with more items differentiating girls from.boys. In another research effort, the participation curves for boys and girls deviated most from 8 1/2-10 1/2 years of age for the entire range of play activities (Lehman and Witty, 1927). Therefore, variances between the sexes in sport participation could be expected to appear at 8-10 years. Sex differences in play appeared greatest at the younger ages (Lehman and Witty, 1927). As chronological age increased, degree of variation in activities decreased until sex differences no longer were pronounced at higher age levels. Peak participation levels were shown for recreational activity (Eiferman, 1971) and for agency com- petition (Youth Sports Report, 1976) with the percentage of partici- pants in competitive, rule-governed games increasing to age 11-12 years, followed by a decrease. In addition, lower levels of sport involvement for both sexes were recorded at 16 years of age (Lehman and Witty, 1927). Ranks depicting sport involvement of males evidenced a drastic drop to participation in only four sports: a) basketball 21 ranked first, b) football ranked second, c) baseball ranked third and d) tennis ranked fourth. Similarly, the ranks reflective of female sport participation in the same study indicated no major Sport prefer- ences at 16 years. Trends in Male-Female Play Differences Recently, active games have been played by younger children (Sutton-Smith, 1959). This is especially true of girls, who have played the more active games at earlier ages. Rope jumping, bicycle riding and roller Skating have taken priority over the more sedentary activities of playing with dolls or pretending to keep house or teach school (Sutton-Smith and Rosenberg, 1961). Female participation in sport probably has increased due to greater encouragement to and acceptance of becoming involved in competition or physical activity. Therefore, one might hypothesize that incidence of participation for girls. like that for boys. in recreational sports would begin at ear- lier ages than indicated by previous investigations and that involve- ment might peak later and last longer, beyond the usual peak at 11-12 years of age, if indeed earlier practice in sports skills is crucial to life-long participation. Summary Several factors that could influence play differences between the sexes were discussed. Structural, physiological and behavioral parameters were reviewed briefly and implications for effects on sport involvement were noted. Sex and age differences in recreational play activities, with a particular emphasis on sports and skilled games, were reported historically over a 62 year span. Some data 22 from agency-sponsored programs were added to the review. Finally, current trends in free-play sport participation were noted. Generally, the structural and physiological factors that differ between the sexes account for males excelling in sports requiring power, strength and agility; while, females are better in balance and flexibility movements. Research has shown that males participate more in contact sports while females are more involved in individual activities. Behavioral and thinking styles vary between the sexes. Males Show aggressive, independent behavior and are more willing to take risks. Females are calmer and more regressive, but creative. There- fore, a researcher might predict higher male involvement in contact and high-risk sports; while greater female participation in individ- ual, creative situations would be expected. InSpection of historical data indicated that considerable re- duction in play differences between the sexes has occurred. Females have gradually expanded their variety of activities, while the list for males has become more restricted. There has been an increasing female preference for sports that were formally male. The developmental nature of involvement in skilled pastimes and major sports was discussed. Low organization activities at early ages gave way to competitive athletics around 8 years of age. This athletic involvement peaked from 11-12 years of age and then declined. Trends in play differences indicated that younger children are becoming more involved in sports and active games and that this participation lasted longer and peaked later. Also, female participa- tion in sport has increased greatly. CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODS The specific aims of this thesis were: a) To determine sex and age differences in frequency and type of participation in recrea- tional sports and b) To compare current trends in the sports participa- tion of males and females to activity patterns over the last eighty years. The data used to indicate change in participation levels were based on the results from four previous studies (Crosswell, 1898; McGhee, 1900; Terman, 1926; Sutton-Smith and Rosenberg, 1961). Sport involvement of Michigan school children between the ages of 5-16 years was surveyed. Since sports and games are considered one barom- eter whereby cultural change can be measured, and since attitudes toward the role of females in society have been altered drastically in recent years, it was timely to examine current patterns of sex and age differences in free-play sport activities. Background of the Study The current investigation was one portion of a larger endeavor, The Youth Sports Study of the State of Michigan, that sought to obtain accurate descriptive data concerning participation in four types of sports programs: a) recreational, b) intramural, c) interscholastic and d) agency-sponsored. Primarily, The Youth Sports Study was de- signed to assess the impact of athletic competition on children and 23 24 youth in Michigan and was projected to involve three phases of inquiry. Phase I was devoted to the procurement of data on the incidence of recreational and competitive sports participation in the State of Mich- igan. Phase II was designed to secure information pertaining to phys- ical conditioning, social dimensions and medical aspects of agency- sponsored youth sports programs. The purpose of Phase III was to formulate recommendations and guidelines based on evidence of bene- ficial and detrimental effects of community-sponsored competitive programs. For a detailed review of the concerns involved in each phase, the reader is referred to The Youth Sports Report to the Joint Legislative Study on Youth Sports Programs (1976). A consortium of universities was commissioned by the Michigan State Legislature to accomplish the stated goals. Representatives from Michigan State University, The University of Michigan, Northern Michigan University and Wayne State University assisted in the task of preparing a formal proposal to the Joint Legislative Study Committee on Youth Sports Programs. After acceptance and approval of the pro- posal by the committee, the universities began the task of detailing study procedures for Phase I. The remainder of Chapter III deals with the stepwise operations followed during the conduct of the study. SamplinggProcedures Methods used in determining a valid, random sample were ex- tremely complex. For ease of organization and understanding, this section has been sub-divided into nine portions. Steps in sampling procedures and subject selection are described fully in each segment. 25 Preliminary Information During the 1974-75 academic year, approximately 2,313,477 stu- dents (grades k—12) were enrolled in Michigan's public and private schools. This figure, determined from the Michigan Department of Ed- ucation and the Michigan Education Directory Buyer's guide, was slightly lower than the actual enrollment as data for a few private schools were not available. Because the total number of missing stu- dents was estimated to be quite small, sample selection was not deemed to be affected significantly. It should be noted here that, although the population consisted of children in grades kindergarten through 12, Students in the 12th grade were not included in the sample. This procedure was followed because the age span of interest was 5-16 years. Thus, the estimated population figure was high; and therefore, the resulting sample drawn for the study actually was higher than the 5% representation intended. Samplinngriteria The Universities Study Committee decided that the sample should consist of children ages 5-16 years who were enrolled in Michigan pub- lic and private schools. It was determined further that the sample should be representative of the school population in terms of: a) geographic location, b) population density, c) school district size, d) socio-economic status, e) ethnic background, f) age and g) sex. A statistically necessary and sufficient sample was calculated to be one-tenth of one percent of all school children in Michigan. However, the sample size arbitrarily was raised to ensure adequate 26 representation of a few sports with estimated low levels of involve- ment. Feasibility, including practical considerations of time, money, personnel and data analysis, was considered; after which, a 5% sample (approximately 115,200 subjects) was approved. It was determined that subjects would be drawn from 89 school districts across the state. This cross-sectional sample included about 15.5% of all Michigan school districts. Geographic Regions The state was divided into 10 regions according to geographic location and population density. This procedure was followed to ex- pedite sample selection and to stratify by the criteria of geographic locale and population size. Figure 3-1 identifies these regions, the school population and the percent of the total population within each region. Basic Sample Unit Using the set age limitations of 5-16 years, a basic sample unit of 24 classrooms (2 classrooms x 12 grades) was established. With approximately 24 students per classroom, each basic sample unit repre- sented 576 children (24 children x 24 classrooms). Therefore, in order to acquire the desired 5% representative sample of 115,200 children, approximately 200 basic units were required (115,200/576 = 200). Table 3-1 (columns 1-5) shows the final allocation of basic sample units to geographic regions. Note that 201 units actually were formed in order to achieve proportional regional representation. 19.2212 SCHOOL U m ism TA 604,008 371,905 0 242,018 284.553 273.223 265.192 133.828 63.679 28,301 Ira—“.6122 TOTAL 2,313,477 HHHHHN upnmu—HNOOO I O O I I O O O O O ONQNWOWVIHH VDQNO‘W3WNH y-n O O O Figure 3-1. Regions, School Populations and Percent Total Population in Each Region Taken from the Youth Sports Report (1976), p. 37. 28 Table 3-1. Allocation of Basic Sample Units by School Population According to Region o Assigned No. of .3323, 4.2; .222. N33; Diggggcts (1) (2) (3) (4) (S) (6) 1 604,008 26.1 52.2 52 13 2 371,905 16.1 32.2 32 16 3 242,018 10.5 21.0 21 10 4 284,553 12.3 24.6 25 ll 5 273,223 11.8 23.6 24 ll 6 265,192 11.5 23.0 23 10 7 133,828 5.8 11.6 12 6 8 63,679 2.8 5.6 6 6 9 28,301 1.2 2.4 2 2 10 46,770 2.0 4.0 4 4 Total 2,313,477 100.1 200.2 201 89 29 Selection of School_Districts School districts within each region were ordered by size from the largest to the smallest. The districts then were grouped by approximate multiples of 11,570 students. This figure represents the approximate number of students from which each basic unit would be drawn (2,313,477/200 = 11,570). The following arbitrary decisions were made in order to reduce the number of school districts to a rea- sonable number for study: a) School districts from regions l-7 (i.e. regions having a total school pOpulation greater than 100,000) would be grouped so as to permit the assignment of a minimum of two basic sample units to each district selected. b) School districts from regions 8-10 (i.e. regions having total school populations of less than 100,000) would be grouped so as to permit the assignment of a minimum of one basic unit to each district selected. Whenever it was necessary to combine two or more school dis- tricts to achieve a student population with a multiple of 11,570 one district was selected randomly from the group as the district to be included in the Youth Sports Study. Eighty-nine school districts were selected for study by this procedure (Table 3-1, column 6). The specific districts selected for participation in the study are listed in the Appendix B and the areas of sampling responsibilities for each university are indicated in Figure 3-2. Contact with Superintendents A letter was sent to the superintendents of each school district selected in the sample. This letter requested written approval for the participation of the district in the study. In addition, the 30 AREAS or SAMPLING RESPONSIBILITIES 1. NORTHERN MICHIGAN ® LNIVERSITY MICHIGAN STATE LNIVERSITY 3. th WIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 4. WAYNE STATE WIVERSITY L_i Figure 3-2. Area of Sampling Reaponsibilities Taken from the Youth Sports Report (1976), p. 41. 31 identification of all private schools within the geographical limits of a particular public school district was requested. Selection of Alternate School District A procedure was outlined for the replacement of a school dis- trict that declined to participate in the study. This procedure in- volved choosing a substitute district from the same geographic region as the district that was selected originally. The district with a student population most nearly equal to that of the original district was designated as a potential replacement. Only nine of the originally selected districts refused to cooperate and had to be replaced. Selection of Representative Schools Within Districts The selection of representative schools within each district was done on a subjective basis in cooperation with the superintendent or a designated representative. Schools were selected to reflect the matriculation of a particular group of students from.elementary school to high school and to be representative of the district accord- ing to the following criteria: a) socio-economic levels, b) ethnic groups and c) geographical areas within the district. The number of classrooms needed per grade per school was dependent upon the number of basic units assigned to a district. For example, a two-unit dis- trict would need four classrooms per grade. Therefore, a common breakdown of a two-unit district, including schools and classrooms per grade, was as follows: a) One senior high school - four classrooms per grade b) Two junior high schools - two classrooms per grade per school 32 c) Four elementary schools - one classroom per grade per school. Private School Selection Approximately 7% of the total sample units were designated for private schools (14 units). These private schools were chosen on the basis of geographical location and population density (Appendix B). Research Design The research model used was the administration of a question- naire pertaining to degree of sports participation. A random sample of students 12-16 years of age and parents of children age 5—11 years completed the descriptive survey and returned it to the schools. The data then were retrieved, processed and analyzed. Frequency counts and percent participation figures then were computed, tabled and graphed in order to ascertain the degree of involvement of children in sports. Conduct of Treatments Protocol for data collection involved a series of preliminary steps. Superintendents of school districts were contacted by tele- phone to arrange a meeting within their districts for the purpose of distributing the questionnaires and selecting the participating schools. Steps were taken to ensure that the appropriate numbers of question- naires were packaged and labeled by grade prior to the initial on- site visit. On-site procedures mandated that the purpose of the study and the objectives of Phase I were explained to each superintendent or 33 designee. Each superintendent was informed of the school district's role in obtaining data for the study. The procedures for administra- tion of the K-5 (parent) and 6-12 (student) questionnaires were dis- cussed with regard to the teachers' roles in the administration of the survey instrument. Special emphasis was placed on the following: a) Elementary teachers should follow-up on delinquent questionnaires and provide a second questionnaire if the first one was not returned within five days. b) All teachers Should indicate the race of the child on each of the questionnaires (for a list of all specific dir- ections to the teachers, see Appendix C). Schools were selected as outlined previously and recorded for future reference on a demographic data sheet. The questionnaires were distributed to the selected schools by the superintendent or his/her designee. The principals of selected schools then arbitrarily selected classrooms that were representative of each grade (i.e., freshman English, junior history, etc.) for participation in the study. It was determined that all questionnaires should be returned to the superintendents within three weeks and arrangements were made for retrieval of the questionnaires by the University Study Teams. Independent Variables One extraneous variable, season of administration, could have been a confounding influence on the amount of Sport participation reported. In order to eliminate the possible effects of this vari- able, the subjects were asked to mark incidence of participation over the past year for each sport. On the other hand, one investiga- tor determdned that season of the year had no effect on games chosen 34 (McGhee, 1900). Other independent variables that could have affected the re- sults were: a) geographic location, b) pOpulation density, c) school district size, d) socio-economic status, e) race, f) age and g) sex. These possible factors were accounted for in the establishment of sampling criteria (p. 25). Adequate control of the extraneous vari- ables was provided by stratifying the random selection of subjects. Dependent Variables Level of participation in each sport was chosen as the depend- ent variable. Involvement was quantified via use of a questionnaire developed by members of the study teams. Responses on the depend- ent variable were categorized into three values: a) Never, b) Some- times and c) Often and could be measured by either a frequency count or percentage figure. Processing the Data A research endeavor of this magnitude made data processing a tedious, time-consuming task. As has been described previously, the data were retrieved from the school districts and Eggh questionnaire was checked for missing information. The nature of the missing data was recorded on a separate form for each school (Appendix D) and an additional visit or telephone call was made to the district in an attempt to obtain the necessary information. Once the missing data were received, they were recorded on the corresponding questionnaires and re-filed for keypunching. The number of returns and percent of responses were caluclated by counting the usable returns within each district, by school and 35 grade, and relating those values to the number of questionnaires that were distributed. The results were noted on a tabulation sheet (Appendix E). This process facilitated the determination of the per- cent response by class, grade, school and district, and statewide by grade, school type and community type. Once the data on the questionnaires were as complete as possible, the identification data on the individual instruments were hand-coded according to the format shown in Figure 3-3. Each card had data cat- egories and sub-categories. Each sport activity listed on the questionnaire had previously been assigned a code number (Appendix F-l). To the right of each listed sport were two sets of numbers (i.e., Archery (l-26)). The first number indicated which data card (1 or 2) received the data for a particular sport and the second set of numbers indicated which column was punched for that sport. Note that free-play and intra- mural sport activities were assigned to card 1. Inter-scholastic and agency-sponsored sports were punched on card 2 (Appendix F-Z). For each activity a l, 2 or 3 was circled corresponding to the level of participation as follows: 1 3 Never, 2 - Sometimes and 3 a Often. After the data were coded, another member from the research team checked the coding for its accuracy. Once the verification process was completed, the data were key-punched directly from the questionnaires onto data cards. The responses for each subject were recorded on two cards. Personnel from each university were respon- sible for verifying their own key-punched cards according to the following process: 1) Punched cards were divided by school district. 36 COMMUNITY TYPE , 1. Urban 3. Rural REGION 01-10 2' “hm” ACE “RD nausea (Figure 1) 05-17 1 or 2 RACE sumacr ID 1. aucx SCHOOLS NUMBER WITHIN 2. curcxno NUMBERED SCHOOL 3. ma. INDIAN WITHIN DISTRICT 4. ORIENTAL s. Iain-E 6. 011m PLEAs DO NOT WRITE IN THIS SPACE la ”On 8: SET Chm Cy LO. 6 A 8 II Fan I Can Clank: "-2) (34) 05-6) (7| .8) Q) "012! (IS-MI "540) "71 "II "$22! (23. 024-250 scIIoor prs'rarcrs 53" mam III-mm 1 ' "A“ I: 1 ms rmrcrurron IIII'IIIII ucn am cup: (noun-Iona. SCHOOL me: 004, mmm. unn- l ' Public musrrcmcmcv 2 - Private 1 0 yes Figure 3-3. Example of Hand-Coding of Identification Data Taken from the Youth Sports Report (1976), p. 46. 37 2) Each district was sorted by grade. 3) The data were listed. 4) The number and sequence of cards for each subject were veri- fied. 5) Key-punch errors of the following types were checked and corrected. a) Letters instead of numerals b) Special characters c) Incorrect column alignment d) Blank spaces 6) A corrected data listing was obtained. 7) Card drawers containing the corrected data were labeled and marked. 8) A master list was constructed that contained the school numbers within each district for the statewide analysis. To expedite the analysis of the statewide study all data cards then were transferred to Michigan State University for central storage, while the Study Coordinators from Northern Michigan, The University of Michigan and Wayne State University each retained and filed the ques- tionnaires for their respective areas. All data were analyzed via the SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) system on the CDC (Control Data Corporation) 6500 computer at Michigan State Univer- sity. The specific program used for the study was CROSSTABS, a joint frequency count percentage distribution of cases according to class- ificatory variables, which provided a separate table for each sport. within each stratification. Each table included a cell within the stratified dependent 38 variable (i.e., Never, Sometimes, Often--see Appendix G). Three items were recorded in each cell; a) the count of students at that level, b) a row percent that indicated the percentage of participat- ing students at that level, and c) a column percent that designated the percentage of Students at that age or grade who participated at that level. Total counts, row percents and column percents were avail- able at the bottom and side of each table. Numerous preliminary trials of the Crosstabs program were scrutinized over a period of two months. These analyses utilized sample decks of "dummy data" and the outputs were hand-checked to en- sure proper recoding and handling of each variable and transformation. After verification that the computer was reading and analyzing the data accurately, the data from each school district were analyzed separately to obtain individual district outputs. These results again were scrutinized for errors. The cards of each school district were then read onto a separate disc file for temporary storage. At this stage of the data processing, the files again were scanned for errors in card sequencing (i.e., Subject 1: cards 1, 2; Subject 2: cards 1, 2; etc.) and corrected or recreated when errors were detected. When all the files had been verified to be error-free, the disc stor- age was transferred to magnetic tape for permanent storage. An addi- tional copy of the total tape was retained for security reasons. The final step involved listing of the data recorded on the magnetic tape. After the listing was reviewed and judged to be accurate, the temporary files were purged and the statewide analyses proceeded. 39 Solution of Sgbproblems A questionnaire was constructed in order to obtain an overall picture of the sports participation by Michigan children and youth. It was determined that sports would be surveyed in the following four areas: a) Recreational or Free-Play Activities, b) Intramural Activ- ities, c) Inter-scholastics Activities and d) Agency-Sponsored Activ- ities. Recreational or Free-Play Activities These activities were defined as those sports most often played by boys and girls on an informal basis. This means that official teams, organized leagues and tournaments were not included in recrea- tional sport activity. The informal nature of recreational sport implies that it could have taken place in back-yards, in the neigh- borhood, at the local playground, on the beach, or in other similar places. Recreational play mdght have taken place alone, or with other children or adults. Intramural Sport Activities Such activities included all school-sponsored sport activities of a competitive or recreational nature that did not involve competi- tion with other schools or did not take place during the regular phys- ical education classes. Examples of this type of activity are flag football competition between homerooms of a particular school, and a special interest group such as gymnastics, that met on a regular basis. 40 Interscholasticy§port Activities Interscholastic sport activities were identified as those sports that involved competition between teams from different schools. An ex- ample is a football team from one school playing the football team from another school. ‘Agency-Sponsgred Activities Community-sanctioned sports included those programs involving competition between individuals, teams, clubs or groups that were not sponsored by the school. To be considered agency-Sponsored, contests must have been played according to an approved set of rules under the supervision of officials. Examples of such programs would be Little League Baseball and A.A.U. Swimming. An assessment of the degree of participation in any given sport was determined by three possible responses (see Appendix A). The sub- ject was given the choice of answering: a) Never, b) Sometimes or c) Often. Each of the responses was defined Specifically for the four areas surveyed. Subjects were asked to respond only in terms of their or their child's participation in sports during the last 12 months. For recreational activities, a "Never" response signified no participation within a 12 month period. A "Sometimes" response indicated that the sport was played from one to three times during the last 12 months, and an "Often" response meant that participation occurred four or more times during the previous year. All members of the study teams provided input for establishing an appropriate list of Sports for each section of the survey instru- ment. Common knowledge, reasoned judgment and consultation with 41 knowledgeable organizations such as the Michigan High School Athletic Association provided sources from.which to add or delete certain sports. The final lists of sports chosen for the questionnaire appear in Appendix A. Pilot Testing of the Survey_Instrument To determine its effectiveness, the questionnaire was pilot tested in the following communities; a) Dexter Public Schools, b) Gwinn Public Schools c) Marquette Public Schools, d) Okemos Public Schools, e) St. Johns Public Schools and f) Ypsilanti Public Schools. The questionnaire was administered across all grade levels in a var- iety of situations with the personnel from each of the four universi- ties assessing distinctly different methods of administration. Post survey interviews with teachers and selected students then were con- ducted to provide answers to the following concerns: a) length of time to complete the questionnaire, b) clarity of directions, c) ease of administration, d) comprehensiveness and validity of responses by students in each grade and e) appearance and format of the question- naire. Based upon the cumulative results of pilot testing, the follow- ing recommendations were included in the final revision of the survey instrument: 1) Detailed instruction should be provided for the teachers who were to administer the questionnaire (Appendix C). 2) The four areas of sports participation should appear in the questionnaire in the following order: a) recreational, b) intramural, c) interscholastic and d) agency. 42 3) The list of specific sports should be revised to facilitate completion of the questionnaire within a 10-15 minute time span. 4) Questionnaires for grade K-5 should be sent home to the parents for completion due to the difficulty that elementary school-aged children had with the various items. 5) Questionnaires for grades 6-11 could be completed by the students in the classroom. Summagy Research methods were extremely detailed and followed meticu- lously. Approximately 1 1/2 years were spent in planning and organ- izing the procedures and in collecting and analyzing the data. About 115,200 subjects, a 5% sample of Michigan school children ages 5-16 years were chosen randomly. The sample was stratified by geographic locale, population density, school district size, socio-economic status, race, age and sex. Two questionnaires (parent, student) were constructed by the research teams. Pilot testing to determine the effectiveness of the instruments occurred in six communities. Final revisions then were made. Collection of data was achieved through administration of ques- tionnaires by the teaChers in individual classrooms of selected school districts. Parents of children in grades K-5 and students in grades 6-11 completed the survey items. The level of participation (Never, Sometimes, Often) marked by the subject for each sport was used as the dependent variable. After the data were processed, 43 coded, key-punched and checked, they were analyzed via the CDC 6500 computer at Michigan State University. CHAPTER IV RESULTS AND DISCUSSION This study investigated the recreational sport interests of Michigan school children who ranged in age from 5-16 years. Data were obtained via questionnaires that were administered in the class- room to students between the ages of 11-16 years, while parents of children aged 5-10 years completed identical forms of the question- naire in their homes. Results were used to: 1) define the extent of participation in recreational sports, 2) categorize sports as pre- dominately male or female, 3) reveal historical trends in recreational sport participation and contrast those trends by sex and 4) determine age level trends for each sex in their leisure involvement. In this chapter, the percent response to the questionnaire will be reviewed first. The data from each of the above sections will then be presented, the results described and statistics provided where meaningful. Finally, a discussion of the results will explore pos- sible reasons for the reported trends and draw implications for future activity programs. Responses to the Questionnaire Percent response for this study has been documented fully else- where (Youth Sports Report, l976) and will be reviewed only briefly in this section. The total number of questionnaires actually 44 45 distributed was 109,625 or 4.74% of the students enrolled during the 1974-75 school year. Overall statewide returns were 74.8% for parents and 100.0% for students for a combined total of 85.7%. No substantial differences in percent response occurred by school type (Public, Pri- vate) or by community type (Urban, Suburban, Rural). Extent of Participation in Recreational Sports Males and females are actively involved in many recreational sports. Numerical totals of participation in those sports are shown alphabetically for males in Figure 4-1 and for females in Figure 4-2. The oblique lines in each bar represent that portion of the total sample who participated "OFTEN" in the sport. "OFTEN" indicates that the individual played the sport four or more times during the 12 months preceding the administration of the questionnaire. The percent- age of subjects who were involved only "SOMETIMES" (1-3 times during the year) is represented in the clear part of each bar. The two fig- ures inside each bar refer to the actual number of students who par- ticipated either "SOMETIMES" or "OFTEN," while the left ordinate shows the percent of the usable sample of the 89,627 subjects who indicated that they were involved in that sport. ‘Qggree of Participationgby Sex It appears that boys and girls are involved in a variety of recreational sports and are quite active in them. Participation in two sports (bicycling, swimming) approached or exceeded 90%, while that in several other sports (e.g. basketball, softball, roller skating) was over 70%. All 35 recreational sports, ranked according to degree of total participation (combined "SOMETIMES" and "OFTEN") 46 |||| ::!5E»flETflHEI§ SEAN : IJF“rEnu NzH‘IEBS'. fl pm fl 4% H U M EELS E?€:;€§§;fiéééi / ///,3 — I \§ 5.241445432453554 h (N U I S m . IIIAITIC! %3[ ms: 2 F U I M H j "I; 1' — i " um: .I. V 1% N m i"—\ 4 FM ) N i 4' N N E ET \ w a. 4. n _ , ,_ a EJN NENENNN «N N ‘ "1 g ’5 ‘ 4: . I .- .lh .— I II- I" U I‘ d‘ 3’ o 09-— ~ I- Ul 0' U" I ‘0‘ I I I... I“ -. . U”. a IIIIIIIII E E , ,/Q; i w A //,' nggfl \ 3 g : g :3 I: g 3 35 Figure 4-1. Statewide Total Male Participation: Independent of Age 47 ‘ T 35.4- a: “‘9‘ I = anETIIIES ." ‘ -.- OFTEN B: N = 44942. 5‘1 5;; m I— F: "m __ 2’": \\N T‘ BI r7: m m ION P I P IAI‘IIIT". ‘ /§[ [/43 Ian-Int... 7 7/ NJ; “\NNQs) » .. nt- 5;:- avalasr nonrucl m l I MIC _ rum! MW!!! 3 g g nnrnv . q Joanna V a] .: an mnI ll 7; a» m a a 7‘ 553 “I E31 I g- in: I. i, N . g g a: as: g g 7 $5: Figure 4-2. Statewide Total Famale Participation: Independent of Age 48 for each sex, are listed in Table 4-1. Note that these results are independent of age as the data here have been totaled by sex across the age range of 5-16 years. Bicycling ranked as the most popular activity with 94% involvement by males and 95% by females. Swimming ranked second with 89% and 90% participation, respectively. One other sport, basketball for males, showed participation greater than 80%. Within the twenty most pOpular sports for each sex, 18 of them were common to both groups. Wrestling and weight lifting appeared fourteenth and seventeenth, respectively, in the list for males, while horseback riding and miniature golf were ranked sixteenth and nine- teenth in the column for females. Furthermore, five Sports (bicycl- ing, swimming, basketball, softball, kickball) were common to both sexes within the top ten ranked sports. Although both males and females each marked 12 individual sports in the 20 most popular ones, the distribution of those activ- ities varied. Males chose four individual type sports in the top 10 and eight in those ranked 11-20. Females indicated six in each cat- egory. It seems that girls participated most frequently in individ- ual/dual activities, while boys oriented their greatest involvement toward team games. A striking occurrence here was that well over half of the sample indicated participation in the top ten sports. In fact, boys had a total of 17 sports in which at least 50% participated and girls had 13 such sports. Note also that within the top twenty sports, over one-third of the sample was represented in almost each activity for both sexes. Although these percentages of participation were still quite high, the levels for females drOpped more rapidly than 49 Table 4-1. Most Popular Sports--Ranked by Total Percent of Parti- cipation--Independent of Age MALE FEMALE RANK SPORT PERCENT RANK SPORT PERCENT l Bicycling 94 1 Bicycling 95 2 Swimming 89 2 Swimming 9O 3 Basketball 82 3 Softball 73 4 Softball 79 3 Roller Skating 73 5 Tackle Football 74 5 Kickball 72 6 Baseball 73 6 Ice Skating 66 7 Touch Football 69 6 Basketball 66 7 Kickball 69 8 Gymnastics 61 9 Table Tennis 65 9 Volleyball 60 10 Bowling 64 10 Badminton 58 11 Ice Skating 62 10 Table Tennis 58 12 Roller Skating 58 12 Bowling 57 12 Jogging 58 13 Jogging 54 14 Wrestling 55 14 Tennis 48 14 Volleyball 55 15 Baseball 45 16 Badminton 54 16 Horseback Riding44 17 Weight Lifting 51 17 Touch Football 40 18 Tennis 48 18 Soccer 37 19 Soccer 47 19 Tackle Football 32 20 Gymnastics 40 19 Miniature Golf 32 21 Miniature Golf 39 21 Track & Field 30 21 Track & Field 39 22 Wrestling 20 23 Floor Hockey 38 23 Floor Hockey 19 24 Horseback Riding35 24 Water Skiing 17 25 Archery 32 25 Synchronized 14 25 Ice Hockey 32 Swimming 27 Golf 25 25 Weight Lifting 14 28 Snorkeling 22 27 Archery 13 29 Water Skiing 21 28 Downhill Skiing 12 30 Downhill Skiing 14 29 Golf 10 30 Ice Hockey 9 31 _ Synchronized 12 Swimming 31 Snorkeling 8 32 Karate ll 32 Karate 5 33 Judo 7 ' 32 Cross Country 5 34 Cross Country 6 Skiing Skiing 34 Judo 3 35 Scuba Diving 5 35 Scuba Diving 2 50 those of the males. Participation for males showed 26 sports with levels of 30 percent or more, while female participation exceeded 30 percent in only 21 sports. However, the amount of participation in the twenty sports ranked highest on each list was Similar for both sexes--especially within the top ten. Moreover, similarities between males and females were seen in the botton four rankings. Karate, judo, cross country skiing and scuba diving ranked last for both sexes and there was never more than a six percent between-sex difference in the levels of participation for any one of these activities. Females were involved extensively in sports typically considered masculine (baseball, 45%; touch football, 40%; tackle football, 32%). Even within the lowest ranked Sports in the column for females, wrestl- ing was marked by 20% of the respondents and weight lifting by 14%. In addition, ice hockey was played by nine percent of the girls. However, when females ranked the sports in which they partici— pated "OFTEN," none of the typically masculine Sports had levels higher than 16% (Table 4-2). Baseball (16%), touch football (11%), tackle football (9%), wrestling (7%), ice hockey (2%) and weight lifting (2%) all maintained a position relative to each other and within two rankings of that shown in Table 4-1 (Total participation). In fact, with the exception of tennis, track and field and miniature golf, all sports in Table 4-2 for girls were listed within two ranks of those in Table 4-1 for girls. In contrast, when the sports ranked according to those who par- ticipated in them "OFTEN" were compared to the ranking of sports by "TOTAL" participation (sum of those who participated SOMETIMES and OFTEN), there was a more drastic displacement in ranks for males than 51 Table 4-2. Most Popular Sports--Ranked by Often Percent of Partic- ipation--Independent of Age MALE FEMALE RANK SPORT PERC ENT RANK SPORT PERCENT 1 Bicycling 83 l Bicycling 84 2 Swimming 71 2 Swimming 73 3 Basketball 54 3 Kickball 37 4 Baseball 48 4 Softball 35 5 Tackle Football 46 4 Softball 35 6 Softball 41 6 Ice Skating 34 7 Touch Football 33 7 Basketball 32 7 Kickball 33 8 Gymnastics 29 7 Table Tennis 33 9 Table Tennis 24 10 Ice Skating 32 10 Volleyball 23 11 Bowling 25 11 Tennis 21 ll Wrestling 25 12 Badminton 19 13 Jogging 23 12 Bowling l9 l3 Roller Skating 23 14 Jogging 17 15 Weight Lifting 22 15 Baseball 16 16 Tennis 21 16 Horseback Riding l4 17 Volleyball 17 17 Touch Football 11 18 Gymnastics l6 18 Soccer ' 10 18 Soccer 16 18 Track 8 Field 10 20 Ice Hockey 15 20 Tackle Football 9 21 Badminton 14 21 Wrestling 7 21 Floor Hockey 14 22 Miniature Golf 6 21 Track & Field 14 22 Water Skiing 6 24 Archery ll 22 Synchronized Swimming 6 24 Golf 11 25 Floor Hockey 5 26 Miniature Golf 9 25 Downhill Skiing 5 26 Horseback Riding 9 27 Archery 2 26 Water Skiing 9 27 Golf 2 29 Snorkeling 7 27 Ice Hockey 2 29 Downhill Skiing 7 27 Snorkeling 2 31 Synchronized Swimming 5 27 Cross Country Skiing 2 32 Karate 4 27 Weight Lifting 2 33 Judo 2 33 Judo 1 33 Scuba Diving 2 33 Karate 1 33 Cross Country Skiing 2 35 Scuba Diving 0 52 for females. For example, ice hockey moved from 26th in "TOTAL" par- ticipation to 20th in "OFTEN." Badminton dropped from 16th to let; miniature golf moved from let to 26th. It is interesting to note that baseball and softball and wrestling and roller skating for the males exchanged positions when ranked according to the criterion of participating "OFTEN." When considering just those subjects who participated "OFTEN," levels of involvement in recreational sports were still quite high. Ten Sports for males and seven for females were engaged in by at least one-third of the sample. The levels of involvement were similar for boys and girls, especially within the highest and lowest ranked activities. Also, the percent of females involved in activities de- creased more rapidly as one descended the ranks than the percents, by sport, for males. Categorization of_§ports on the Basis of Sex Since the data on the extent of participation revealed some differences between the sexes, a categorization of sports into those that were predominately male or female was attempted. Because of the extremely large sample size, any sport with differences greater than one percent in participation between males and females can be shown to be statistically significant. These differences, however, are probably trivial and would not be meaningful to people who coordinate or teach physical activities and/or regulate the planning of facilities. There- fore, differences in participation between males and females of 15% was deemed significant for this discussion. Those sports differen- tiating between males and females on this basis are listed in Table 4-3. 53 Males had 10 sports in which their total levels of participation ex- ceeded that of the females by at least 15%. In contrast, females had only gymnastics and roller skating in which their participation exceeded that of males by more than 15%. Table 4-3. Sports Differentiating Between Sexes (Differences in TOTAL Percent Participation are 3 15 Percent) Male Female Archery Gymnastics Baseball ‘ Roller Skating Basketball Tackle Football Touch Football Golf Floor Hockey Ice Hockey Weight Lifting Wrestling If one considers only the respondents who participated "OFTEN" in activities, the male column contained six sports while females did not exceed the involvement of males by 15% or more in any activity (Table 4-4). This means that in archery, golf, floor hockey and ice hockey the males had a relativelyhigher participation rate under "SOMETIMES." Likewise, in gymnastics and roller skating, females displayed a greater proportion of involvement by those who participated "SOMETIMES." 54 Table 4-4. Sports Differentiating Between Sexes (Differences in OFTEN Percent Participation are 3 15 Percent) Male Female Baseball Basketball Tackle Football Touch Football Weight Lifting Wrestling Historical Comparisons in Recreational Sport Participation Play interests of children have been reported previously in four major studies in different geographical locales (Crosswell, 1898; McGhee, 1900; Terman, 1926; Sutton-Smith and Rosenberg, 1961). In order to compare these data, the sports that were identical to those surveyed in the Youth Sports Study (1976) were excerpted from each list and the degree of participation was computed and presented as percent of total involvement (Table 2-2, pp. 13-15). The results indicate that both sexes have greately expanded their participation in sports (Table 4-5). In 1898 boys marked only four sports with levels of participation greater than 25%, while in 1976, this category contained 27 sports. The number of sports in which more than 25% of the girls were involved increased from one to twenty-one during the period from 1898 to 1976. 55 Table 4-5. Historical Comparisons in Recreational Sport Involve- ment Number of Sports with Year (Investigator) Locale Participation :_25% Male Female 1898 (Crosswell) Massachusetts 4 1 1900 (McGhee) South Carolina 3 0 1926 (Terman) California 14 9 1961 (Sutton-Smith Ohio 16 15 and Rosenberg) 1976 (Youth Sports Michigan 27 21 Study Comparison by Sport Separate sports were examined across the five studies to deter- mine changes over time in recreational sport participation. In this section, specific sports will be discussed as representative of gen- eral trends in the data. All percentages of participation shown here were taken from Table 2-2 (pp. 13-15) and Table 4-1 (p. 49). Some activities had participation curves that were nearly ident- ical for both males and females. Bicycling, swimming and volleyball were representative of this fact (Figure 4-3). The clear columns indicate levels of male participation while the shaded ones represent the involvement of females. Because bicycling was not reported as a sport in 1900 and volleyball was not listed prior to the 1926 study, no indication of participation appears above those years. Note the rapid increase in percent of participation for both sexes in bicycling, swimming and volleyball after 1900. Also during the last 56 Historical Change In Recreational Sport Participation Bicycling W ass PERCENT PARTICIPATm o 5 3 S 3 8 3 5' MALE FEMAL In I898 I900 I926 I960 .00 _ Smmmmg .0 h w .- 7O PERCENT MICIPATIW o 3 3 3 8 S 8 rtiL I!” I’m l926 IOOO Volleyball WMTICIPATION :§?$§§33333 Ian Ian Ian Ian Ion van Figure 4-3. Historical Comparisons of Bicycling, Swimming and Volleyball 57 three studies, levels of involvement for males and females in bicycl- ing and volleyball were fairly constant. In swimming, this was true for the latter two investigations. The individual sports of tennis, bowling and ice skating were also representative of a sharp rise in degree of participation over the past 78 years (Figure 4-4). Levels for both males and females were similar and the bars followed the same general pattern across time. The levels of participation in these sports were not as con- stant during the latter studies as were those of the previous three sports. With the exception of bowling for females, levels of partic- ipation in 1976 decreased from those of the earlier reports. Some semi-contact team sports also showed similarities between the sexes in their degree of participation across time. Involvement in basketball, soccer and baseball demonstrated a sharp increase after 1900 (Figure 4—5). In basketball and baseball, highest levels for girls were reported in 1926 with 80% and 83%, respectively. Boys' levels were highest for basketball in 1960 with 86% and for baseball in 1926 with 94%. The levels of participation in soccer exhibited steady increases, eSpecially for girls, since 1926. In 1976, 47% of the boys and 37% of the girls participated. Unlike some sports that were mentioned pre- viously, participation in soccer increased from 1960 to 1976. Another area of interest was in the contact sports that are con- sidered typically masculine. Football and wrestling served as ex— amples for this sport classification. In football, there was a greater difference :ha the levels of involvement between the sexes than has been evident in previous sports (Figure 4-6). Two bars replace the 58 Historical Change In Recreational Sport Participation Tennis I . g i E PERCENT PARTICIPATION o 6 3 8 8 S 8 5‘ 8 8 8 % m l8” IOOO IOZG IOGO l9" Bowling Penaeur PARTICIPATION o 3 3 3 3 3 8 6' 8 3 8 rim Ieee leoo l926 loco ma mm Ice grating 90. 5 '°' 2 7°" $60- EW 40— ~ g... 20- I0- 0- I090 'lOOO mo .97. IOZB YEAR Figure 4-4. Historical Comparisons of Tennis, Bowling and Ice Skating 59 Historical Change In Recreational Sport Participation Basketball : IN 3 § '2: [—1311 '898 I900 l926 IOGO |976 a 3 32"; FEMALE é O O 1 PERCENT PARTICIPATION 8 3 N O I W 3 8 V I PERCENTPARTICIPATM o 5 3 8 3 8 3 l8” IDOO “26 IQGO l976 ,0, Baseball .0 l . fl _ 2. ,0. a» l— T - § °°~ 40 .. E w- 20 .. l0 - o . WOO I’m ICES I050 IBTC Figure 4-5. Historical Comparisons of Basketball, Soccer and Baseball 60 Historical Change In Recreational Sport Participation IOOP 90 so 70 so so 40 so PERCENT PARTICIPATION N - 0 I0 I00 I. PERCENT PARTICIPATION 3 N 0 I0 Figure a _ .—. kW Football I— MALE FEMALE ; » x ] TACKLE TOUCH m h I898 I900 I926 I960 Wrestling W * l976 / I\ |898 I900 I926 I960 YEAR I976 ’ 4-6. Historical Comparisons of Football and Wrestling 61 single bar for each sex in 1976 because the Michigan Youth Sports Study sampled both touch and tackle football, whereas the earlier studies made no such distinction. Females displayed moderately high participation after 1926, with 42% in 1960 and in 1976 with 40% in touch football and 32% in tackle football. Male participation in tackle football was 89% in 1960 and 74% in 1976, while 69% were in- volved in touch football. Increased female involvement in contact sports also was depicted in wrestling (Figure 4-6). Even though great differences in partici— pation levels between the sexes appeared in wrestling, females in- creased their involvement after 1900 to a high of 23% in 1960 and 20% in 1976. Note also the sharp rise for males after 1900. Sixty-one percent were involved in 1926 and 71% in 1960, but this percent dropped to 55% in 1976. Trends in Recreational Sport Participation on the Basis of Age When examining participation in recreational sports across the ages of 5-16 years, several trends in the data emerged. Sports could be categorized by levels of involvement that: 1) increased with chronological age, peaked at a certain age and then leveled-off, 2) increased with chronological age, peaked and then declined or 3) increased throughout the age range. Each of these classifications will be discussed in this section (Raw data by age appear in Appen- dix H). The most common trend by age was for sport participation to in- crease, peak at age 12-13 years and then remain constant until 16 years. Of the 70 sports (35 sports x 2 sexes) that could be listed 62 here, 38 fell into this category (Table 4-6). Archery and ice hockey represent those sports that had extremely low levels of participation at the younger ages of 5—7 years (Figure 4-7). The solid line indi- cates the percent who participated "OFTEN," while the broken line represents those who were involved "SOMETIMES." Note the increasing amount of participation until a peak at age 12 years for females and 13 years for males. After the highest level was attained, it remained relatively stable until 16 years. Note that at almost each age, the percent of subjects who marked "SOMETIMES" was greater than those who circled "OFTEN." Table 4-6. Sports with Participation that Increased, Peaked, then Leveled Throughout Ages 5—16 Years Archery Karate Badminton Scuba Diving Bicycling Cross Country Skiiing Bowling Snorkeling Touch Football Swimming Golf (females) Synchronized Swimming Miniature Golf Table Tennis (females) Horseback Riding Tennis (females) Ice Hockey Volleyball Jogging Weight Lifting (females) Judo Some Sports within the classification of those that peaked and then leveled-off (e.g. badminton, jogging) had moderately high percent- ages of participation at the youngest ages (Figure 4-8). For both males and females, the degree of participation at five years of age um'rIcIP-nrlou CPKICENT) Ill L 72. I “7|me rpm-cm: an ARC HEM/”ALE ICE HOCKEY/HALE SIE .I. a. J! I I I2. '3. A J Y 1 IN. IS. lat I‘O'I. l‘n It'll Ila. I. n ‘07.. m m. n .2. M 63 1 Ta IE. a —4+7 % r a: t 4% I I t 4e ;;4% 4 ‘ H. I. '7 I. I II. II. I2. I3. IH. IS. IS. N I n. IT). -. m. ‘Cl. m .7. In IIIK. I“. I’ll -. U ‘0. "Q m ‘ -. .- — - -. n. n m Figure 4-7. Archery and Ice Hockey pm ICIPI'I’IDN CPCHCCNT 3 WICIFITIDN CPCflCtNT 3 72. 4» ARCHERY/“VALE ml 0' " "' '0 SOMETIMES; S .5 .. 0—. DF’TEN/ D 1* + V n 9 III II. I2. I1 N Is. I6 2 a ”‘—9--o_-o——Q J L L A A A #P j I T f f T I l .. m.m-.mm. '1 III. In In. In ”7. In ICE HCIKEY/FEMLE 72. I IS. .--‘ I s a ,x" “v ’9’ ' wQ' ; ; Y A A 1 1 L L A l ‘ 7 V U 1 V I V I I V I' 1 T 1 E S E 7. ‘ I. II II. I2. I1 “'1. I‘. I3. 5 II. I'II. ‘. III. In III. 3. m. m. m -. m D II. II. I. 1". ‘I. '1. I: III. "C. III. In. I Comparison of Male/Female Participation by Age in 64 a." a 4’ WWIYONI’I‘ALE BADIIIIIIou/Fsrmi ”4' U I 724» 72. .. 0' "' "' ‘0 SOMEWHES/ 5 94.0 SH I H OFTEN) U SE."- 55 J» to.» A- ‘3 ,-"°~—o—-°"° {b ” "°--‘~ la, 7..-“ «14» ,3” In l ltl ” 32% ,’° 32 °’ C ‘I‘ I, I: Z ’ 2 u I v 29.» o--0 I',’ a 3 I U 4.. U I1 I. u J u 2 IE 3 I I5. 9 J 9 F r I- I .l E 9 ‘1 ‘ ya i l- * a I. + 1 L L L 1 a L 1 L A 1 3 ‘ L a a 1 1 1 1 A n 1 n n I T T r fi T f 1 T f f 1 ‘ T V T Y T r 1 r T Y T I 1 E s. E 7 B. 9. II. II I2. I3 I'll IS IS. IE s E. 7. a. a. II. II. I2. I3. I‘t IS. IS N 5 I. 73 373. III In. In IE7 -l .73. 2|”. II27. In N S ”I D. ”I. ”'1 In. ".7. I721 .73. 2|“. 2III .2I. In. D I-. u m m. u. m. m 7“. 7“. n ‘37. D 72 In -. 37L ‘0‘ II. In. Im II“. I221 II”. I- “ 1' ”T Ji- JOHIIIr/IIALE “ ° JOGGIIIG/FEHALE m J. n4. 4- dL 72.4- 72$ 4» A» SH 4’ all» 4» J» :5.“ 550 J» 4L Ina-Ir ‘C.J> 4i- up W." W.“ 4p 4L- n... 32.. n n r 4. .- d» E a-I- é no a l 8 J. E III- 6 I51» 6 I5.“ I' 4» y. 0 5‘ 4p in db E II- ! 4P 1%ttttw‘fi‘w‘t—téttlII¢%I%%I#5+#‘ E ‘. B. 7 I. a. II. II. I2. I3. IN. I‘. I5. E E S. 7. I I. II. II I2. I3. IN. I‘. I5. N i n. m. 7‘. .. I'I. III-1.". I'll .3 III. In I- N 5 n ‘I'K. n. -. IIII. I- I“. II. ”I. Iln I“. III. 0 In. '. m II. - 7|. I72. I". In I‘ Inhlm D I“ n. -. m m CH. 7.. I. In '7I. In.“ Figure 4-8. Comparison of Male/Female Participation by Age in Badminton and Jogging 65 in badminton and jogging was greater than 25% and, consequently, higher levels were attained at the peak ages. One can still note the leveling-off effect at ages 14-16 years. Other activities (e.g. bicycling, swimming) had extremely high participation at all ages. The final sub-group of sports within the first classification are those sports that acquired only moderately low amounts of parti- cipation at the peak before leveling. Cross-country skiing and syn— chronized swimming serve as examples here (Figure 4-9). The trends of a peak participation at 12-13 years and the degree of "SOMETIMES" being greater than "OFTEN" were still apparent in these sports. The second classification of sports contained those with par- ticipation levels that increased with chronological age, peaked and then declined. Twenty-four of the seventy possible activities were included in this category (Table 4-7). Floor hockey and ice skating were typical of sports in this group (Figure 4-10). Note that parti- cipation in floor hockey was relatively low at the young ages while that in ice skating was moderately high. Also in ice skating, the amount of "OFTEN" involvement exceeded that of "SOMETIMES" beginning at seven years and continuing until the older ages. An unusual pattern for a sport in this second classification appeared in the sport of kickball (Figure 4-11). Participation in kickball followed the trend of increasing, peaking and then declining. However, the curve for "OFTEN" peaked at 10 years of age and then declined sharply, while that for "SOMETIMES" peaked much later at 13-15 years before declining during the last two years. Another unique pattern was seen for gymnastics (Figure 4-11). Participation was moderately high at the younger ages, increased 66 ‘I CROSS COUNTRY sums/mu 72 d» 32. I» L T 3! PMTICIPRTIUN (PERCENT) 5" 57' ~—+——+———I—+—+— "°-- " o~-oo'o ’ n-O" .- g L g 1 1 fi fi' ‘P A T I 1 F Y I 5'. II. II. I2. I3. II'I. IS. IS. I7. .. I‘ 251 II). '7. 2H). 16% 1 m -. I2! I”. I3. II. In. a.“ as!“ an!” I 7. H2. as 2 on III!“ A v SYNCHRONIZED SHIPPING/HALE l T I ‘-~ — v' 9" .‘s.-a'° p L Y \ h 0'0’ mun-nan mean: p P A p .I 1 5.3" L I L A L V I Y I 'I I2. I1 IN. I‘. I'- ‘I7. '90. on m n .7. an. II". III. I.- f L I. II. I "" -db H" :19“ 35-“ 5‘ I Figure 4-9. 1 fl PMTICIPH TIDN CPERCENY J CROSS COUNIRY SK I ING/FEMLE O- - - -O SOMETIMES; 5 O—-——O UFTEN/ U :11!" ..-'0 I L A k A l A I f Y 1 I 12. IB. IH. IS. IS. I“ an I‘. m I". 3‘. I. IN. '7. I. II. 92. TI SIIYCHRONIZED SHIH‘IING/FEHALE L L I I II. II. ll 5* IS a" I! 2" w 5i i" m n :3” .39? .iP-‘r 33"" 2'. p Comparison of Male/Female Participation by Age in Cross Country Skiing and Synchronized Swimming JI- 67 O-—-O UFTEN/ D as $ FLOOR mun/ma FLOOR Homvxrimi an El 72 72. 0- - - -0 SDI‘IETII‘IES/ 5 32. 32. " C 5 5 8a 32" [As a U I ‘sx n I ’ s U U I, “\~ 2 I6. 2 '5 t ‘\\ g 9 I, ‘o r- I- r a a I” G a. y a ' I- E s ' un-¢#:.~::+4‘r%::4la..#+.%4%YfiTse—fl “I 5 E 7. a 9. II II. I2. I3. ”I. IS. IS. HG: E E. 7. B 9. IO. II. I2 I3. IE IS'. IS. 5 III. 8'. .l. t. -. I3! I“. I37. IH7I. “6‘. Im l-2. N 5 33. I- IN 227 m m n In“ at m I“. N D I m JI‘. “II. a" m 7'2. m ”I. 7‘". :37. '63. 0 I7. ‘K ‘. II? 2|. JIK H nu. m 2I7. I77. III. E? Hi. i I ‘ ICI SKAIIIIG/MLE ICE SKATING/FEMALE all; a: -J gm 3 b I I 6 I I Q \ \ fl Id N . . . . . r—I—I——+—I——0——+——+——o—+-v+— +— +—~+-—+—--+——-+—0— I——-I— +—-+—I u N f 15 I—+—- +-+—-+—-+——o—o—+—+—o—— +—+— +—~ I— +—+—- 0—- 6 El SI 5 6 32. n ’ 2 '- - ‘5."- ‘5. «I» '0.“ ‘6 db I'. 4" ‘I ‘L 32.0 12. n n I'- 0 I- J 2 n > 8 a J; E u a I‘.“ 6 IS. I- 4* a. . E. E II I" ‘ L L 1 L A L A g A A 1 A l l .- . j A J 1 L J L L A A A L I U 1 I I I I v 1 1 If I I *1 f v I v T I r I 1 v 1 v ‘ t I. 7 .- I. II. II. I2. I3. I“. I‘. la, ‘ ‘. I 7. a. 3. II II. I2. I3. IN. IS. II. N I III 1:: “ II“. .1. III. - IIII. Hit. [-1 -. ‘1. N I m 7I7. ‘ HI. I.. II‘. I277. Im ”II. I- In. In D m .I. -. -I. DI M m ”I. m a :m. m D '7. on. I- II- In In I'. I.“ III). Ilnn 7. Figure 4-11. Comparison of Hale/Female Participation by Age in Kickball and Gymnastics 69 Table 4-7. Sports with Participation that Increased, Peaked, then Declined Throughout Ages 5-16 Years Baseball Softball Basketball Tackle Football Gymnastics Floor Hockey Kickball Ice Skating Roller Skating Soccer Track & Field Wrestling slightly until 11-12 years and then decreased sharply for the "OFTEN" participants while the "SOMETIMES" level remained fairly constant. The third classification includes sports in which participation increased throughout ages 5-16 years (Table 4-8). Downhill skiing and water skiing reflect this pattern (Figure 4-12). All sports in this category begin with low levels of involvement at ages 5-7 years and continually increased through age 16 years. Another common character- istic was for the plot of "OFTEN" participation to approach or exceed that of "SOMETIMES," especially for the four sports of golf, table tennis, tennis and weight lifting for males only (Appendix H). Differences in Participation by ‘Age on the Basis of Sex With the exception of four sports (golf, table tennis, tennis and weight lifting), patterns of participation by age were extremely 70 as: as 1 ”MM“ “MG/”ALE DMHILL SKIING/FEI'ALE mi an 72. 72. i o- - - -o SOMETIMES; s I 59.4- an, I H OFTEN! D sci :5. Hal .3. 1. sci so. I 32l 32, <> E f E «I» 3 2H. 8 2HJ> 5 5 i .. I . 6 Isl 13 I ' E 3 a. I E F I- 1 H5: 5. E. 7 a. a. I“. II. I2. I3. IH. IS 15. N s ‘ .I. I32. 9“ I97. all m. a. m. ‘I. a ‘13“. N a 2!. 5. .1 I27. I“. In. 23!. 37L ‘GI. ‘0. a. CI! HATER SKI INS/HALE HATER SKI IRG/FEMLE ~I N 72. 5’ 6 . o-—-+——+—+—-I——-+—+—+—»+—o—-—+—+——+—+—+——+— o——+—-c II ,5 U N n n r- v- z a I: 2‘1. V H I I ,4: U 3...“? 6 IS. a I‘ .- E E 2 ‘ - 'L P E II. + I .L .L I I I '- * K E E. 7. I. 3. II. II. I2. I). IN. IS. II. E N 5 I. I S: III. II. n 'I"). ”I. .fl. III. I75. .. N I D I. II II. ‘K. .7. I‘ ’07. ml. n 7I1 ‘I. a a Figure 4-12. Comparison of Male/Female Participation by Age in Downhill Skiing and Water Skiing 71 Table 4-8. Sports with Participation that Increased Throughout Ages 5-16 Years Downhill Skiing Water Skiing Golf (males) Table Tennis (males) Tennis (males) Weight Lifting (males) similar for both males and females. It is interesting to note that in golf, table tennis, tennis and weight lifting, participation for males continued to increase through age 16 years, while that for females peaked and then leveled (Figures 4-13 and 4-14). During the ages 12-15 years for males, their "OFTEN" participation exceeded that of "SOMETIMES" and definitely increased. For females the amount of participation "SOMETIMES" remained higher throughout all ages. Discussion Michigan youth participated extensively in recreational sports. When the sports were ranked by "TOTAL" percent participation--independ- ent of age (Table 4-1), males were involved in 27 sports with partici- pation at 25% or greater, while females had 21 such sports. Further- more, over half of the males sampled participated in each of the t0p 17 Sports. The sports in this category for females totaled 13. Most of the sports in which total levels of participation were high showed the trend of having moderate to high amounts of involve- ment at the early ages of 5-7 years (e.g. bicycling, swimming, gymnas- tics, ice skating, basketball). This point seems logical from several 72 a? ”A. ‘I ma: 4* W L GOLF/FEMALE ”Jr D." L . 72L 714. J 4 o- - - -o SOMETIMES; s b b Eli-J» “JP 4. Jr 0—0 DF‘TEN/ 0 SE" 54> .4. J. in" ‘,4> Jr- 4» WM“ tag; J» J. 324 32.4» p - p L 2 l '6 ”Rib ' I U ‘ db 5 .. 'Edb 3 § J. o a -- "o—- E r “0’ ° ° 5 5 a .. J’ v S! X E E l# o uo"0--‘ '-°-- - I W ‘ :Il-.fi...%4:4::: K S. E. 7. D. I II II. l2. I3. IN. IS. IS. “ENZHIIIII‘I-II.-SI1‘-7.-B N D II. an n 31.1 m r). In. In. In. I“ In. Hw- H. J I TABLE TENNIS/HALE TABLE TENNIS/FEMLE “.0 -. 4r 72.1» 72 4. “an a 5.0 II. L ~14» I. .. ',A~-,--o--o Us” ‘I. d» 32.4» n. B lb 0'! 1'4.“ 1'1. 4? IE4 II. T 5 .. if .- db 1 1 L l l A A l A J L A I 7 A g L 4 l l A 1 L L I A I .0 I I I I I I I I I I I ‘I7 I t I I I I I I I I I I T I I t S. I. 7. I. I. II II. II. I). IE. II. l8. ‘ t I. 7. I. I. II II. I). I1 I! It. II- “ I .. I. m. .1 I... IIII. II. I”. III I'FI’. I- "II. N I In 'I III. III. I- II- In In I‘ III. In. um. D I.. II. :11 a. 7'. .t In. Janna-ans. D I". II. n .I ‘- 'FI. - "Gt I-I.Ifl IMI- Figure 4-13. Comparison of Male/Female Participation by Age in Golf and Table Tennis 73 a" n d I TENNIS/HALE TENNIS/“NILE ”v I ‘I 72.0 72, ._ O""-'O SDMEIII‘IESI 5 mi» 94. .. O———O DF'TEN/ CI SEA ‘5 4» I..J> Ia. I. ‘0 ‘C. U...‘ —’o--. d} ’9 O 32.4» 13. n n 0' ‘r I' n4» 2“. 'r U U 6 IE. 4* 6 IE. I' " I' 5 I 2 I. 0 I I ‘r i I I + I ‘r I 4¥fig Ir 4. I % I I I I - r % A: I I; I I I % I I I J E S. S. 7. I. I II II l2. I1 I‘l. IS. II. In: S. I. 7. I. I. II. II. I2. I3. IN. IS. I‘ N S In -. “IS. u 7‘. -. ”7". I“. mm. In I- N‘. N S 7'. I” m. .7. m II7. I‘. I- I731 In In. "-I. n '. I1 I7I. m '7. '07-. m “'7. In I97. I“ IS“. 0 l7. SI I- I- an .0. —. I- In Inl. In In -. “’ HEIGHT LIF‘IIIIG/HALE J HEIGHT LIFTIIIG/FEHALE I I r .1 72. 72.4 4 SH. H‘ 4 SE. a. J ‘. ‘4 4 t1 ‘ ~14 \‘ d a. '14 n n , P u H no I O .O’ -—.-—‘-‘ IE. 1‘4 "v’ Q I I . 4 I I I I. I. ‘ '1 0" JD '0" c "O' L L i A 1 L L L 1 n 1 L 4 a k A n 1 L '- ' t v r v t r r‘r v I ‘1' If I .- 1 fl r fir r v I v ‘ S. I. 7. I. I. II. II. I2. I). IN. IS. II. t S. I. 7. I. I. II. II. II. II. IR. IS. II. N I -. mmunmnnuuntnlnlutm N I I. '7. I II. Ifl--7.-CM"I.‘ n n. I: III. 77. 't m. -. II‘CI- I- I“ III. 0 I. II. R I. 37. I l-. I‘ In. II. In. In Figure 4-14. Comparison of Male/Female Participation by Age in Tennis and weight Lifting 74 aspects. First, if participation was moderate to high at the younger ages and remained relatively high throughout the age range, then the "TOTAL" percents should be high. Secondly, exposure to an activity early in life may account for continued involvement in that sport and therefore result in a higher "TOTAL" percent. In addition, when listed according to those who participated "OFTEN," most sports main- tained a ranking similar to that held in "TOTAL" percent. It would seem then, that participation at younger ages might influence the extent to which individuals become involved (i.e. Sometimes vs Often) in sports at later ages. Comparisons by Sex Patterns of participation in recreational Sports were similar between males and females (Tables 4-1, 4-2 and Figures 4-7 thru 4-14). Greater similarities occurred in those sports ranked either high or low in participation than in those listed in the middle. However, three basic differences in participation existed between males and females. First, males had somewhat higher percents of involvement in most sports and maintained these levels longer. The percent of in- volvement in sports for females dropped more rapidly than that for the males (Table 4-1). Table 4-8 also shows that males had more sports in which their participation levels increased from ages 5-16 years. Second, males had relatively higher degrees of "OFTEN" involve- ment in sports than did females (Table 4-2). It seems that females mdght have less committment to participate in some sports than do males. Table 4-4 reveals that six sports actually differentiated 75 males from females on the basis of "OFTEN" participation. Four of these activities are team games and two are individual/dual sports that are typically considered masculine. Third, the data reveal that males participated more frequently in team games. The 10 most popular sports included six team sports for males and only four for females. In those sports ranked 11-20, two team sports were included in the list for males while the list for females contained four. Therefore, both sexes indicated eight team games within the top 20 sports, but boys participated most frequently in team activities, while girls oriented their greatest involvement toward individual/dual games. Tables 4-3 and 4-4 emphasize this trend by showing that most of the sports that differentiated into male activities are team games, while the two that are markedly more pop- ular for females are individual sports. Implications for activity programs might be to allow males a few more team games and to incor- porate more individual/dual activities into the curricula for girls. These results were in close agreement with those from previous studies (Lehman and Witty, 1927; Rosenberg and Sutton-Smith, 1960). These two previous investigations identified ten sports (football, wrestling, boxing, basketball, baseball, pole-vaulting, swimming, horseback rid- ing, bowling and soccer) that more frequently were engaged in by boys. Girls had no true sports that separated them from boys unless "cart- wheels" can be considered similar to gymnastics. Historical Trends Some implications for deve10pment of activity programs may be gleaned by reviewing the historical trends in recreational sports 76 participation. Many individual sports (bicycling, swimming, volley- ball, tennis, bowling and ice skating) ranked high throughout the years compared, as well as over the age-range studied. This charac- teristic was true for both males and females. High interest remained or has risen in some semi-contact team sports (basketball, soccer, baseball) for both sexes. Softball has probably been the substitute sport for this category. But like softball, the semi-contact sports require only a small amount of equipment and in contrast, basketball and soccer may provide a higher probability for increase in fitness levels of youth. Another trend was that females are interested in some contact sports usually considered masculine. Perhaps these activities should be modified to satisfy the desires of some females. For example, flag football could be provided for school-aged girls as it now is for women in many American universities. Further study is needed to de- termine how, if at all, contact sports should be modified for partici— pation by females, or indeed, if females should be encouraged to participate in such sports. CHAPTER V SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Summary The purposes of this study were to: l) investigate sex dif- ferences in the degree of participation in recreational sports of Michigan school children, 2) reveal historical trends in participa- tion in free play sports and 3) determine age level by sex trends in the incidence of recreational sport involvement for the ages of 5-16 years. The following statements summarize the findings: 1) Males and females were actively involved in many recreational sports. Well over half of the sample indicated participation in the ten most popular activities, while over one-third of the sample was represented in almost all of the top twenty sports for both sexes. 2) Males indicated higher participation in team sports; females chose individual games more often. 3) Females showed considerable involvement in sports typically considered masculine. 4) Males had more sports in which their participation levels were at least 15 percent greater than that for females. 5) Since 1898, both sexes have greatly expanded their partici- pation in sports. 77 78 6) Individual and semi-contact team games indicated similar trends across time for both males and females. 7) Although females displayed moderate levels of participation in contact sports, there was a greater difference between the sexes than was evident in individual and semi-contact sports. 8) Sports were grouped into three distinct categories according to their pattern of involvement across the ages of 5-16 years. a) Levels of participation increased, peaked and then leveled. b) Levels of participation increased, peaked and then declined. c) Levels of participation increased throughout the age range. 9) With the exception of golf, table tennis, tennis and weight lifting, patterns of participation by age were similar for both males and females. Conclusions The results suggest the following conclusions: 1) Most of the sports in which total levels of participation were high showed the trend of having moderate to high amounts of in- volvement at the early ages of 5-7 years. It would seem then, that participation at younger ages might influence the extent to which in- dividuals become involved in sports at later ages. 2) Males had somewhat higher percents of involvement through- out most sports, maintained these levels longer and had relatively higher degrees of "OFTEN" involvement than did females. It seems 79 that females might have less committment to participate in some sports than do males. 3) Participation in sports by females has greatly increased since 1898, especially in individual and semi-contact team sports, and in some contact team sports. Recommendations Based on this investigation, the following recommendations are tendered: 1) Activity programs, equipment, facilities and instruction should be modified or expanded to account for the high amounts of participation by both sexes in many recreational sports. 2) Directors of activity programs should allow males a few more team games and offer females more individual/dual activities. 3) Because some semi-contact team sports (e.g. soccer, basket- ball) show high popularity for each sex, require a small amount of equipment and offer a good activity for increase in fitness levels of youth, these types of sports should be considered for inclusion when developing curricula. 4) Rules and equipment should be adapted for the safety of those females who wish to participate in contact sports. REFERENCES REFERENCES Cratty, B.J. Children and Youth in Competitive Sport. Freepost: Educational Activities, Inc., 1974. Crosswell, T.R. Amusements of Worchester school children. The Pedagogical Seminary, 6:314-371, 1898. DeVore, I. Primate Behavior. New York: Holt, Reinhart and Winston, 1965. Edington, D.W. and V.R. Edgerton. The Biology offighysical Activity. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Co., 1976. Eiferman, R.R. Social play in childhood. In Child's Play. Herron, R.R. and B. Sutton-Smith. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1971, pp. 270-297. Ellis, M.J. Why People Play. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1973. Espenschade, A.S. and H.M. Eckert. Motor Development. Columbus: Charles E. Merrill Books, Inc., 1967. Furfey, P.H. The Growing Boy. New York: Macmillan Co., 1930. Goldberg, S. and M. Lewis. Play behavior in the year-old infant: early sex differences. Child Development. 40:21-31, 1969. Gray, H. Anatomy of the Human Body (ed. C.M. Goss). Philadelphia: Lea and Febiger, 1973. Hamburg, D.A. and D.T. Lunde. Sex hormones in the development of sex differences in human behavior. The Development of Sex Differ- ences (ed. E.E. MacCoby). Stanford, Cal.: Stanford university Press, 1966. Harlow, H. The heterosexual affectional system in monkeys. American Psychologist, 17:1-9, 1962. Hurlock, E.B. Experimental investigations of childhood play. Psy- chological Bulletin, 31:47-66, 1934. Jacklin, C.N. and E.E. Macoby and A.E. Dick. Barrier behavior and toy preference: sex differences (and their absence) in the year- old child. Child Development 44:196-200, 1973. 80 81 Kagan, J. and M. Lewis. Studies of attention in the human infant. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 11:95-127, 1965. Lehman, H.C. and P.A. Witty. The Psychology of Play Activities. New York: Barnes, 1927. MCGhee, Z. A study in the play life of some South Carolina children. The Pedagogical Seminary, 7:459-478, 1900. Minuchin, P. Sex differences in children: research findings in an educational context. The National Elementary Principal 46: 45-48, 1966. Mbss, H.A. and J. Kagan. Stability of achievement and recognition seeking behavior from early childhood through adulthood. Jour- nal of Abnormal Psychology 62:504-513, 1961. Rosenberg, B.G. and B. Sutton-Smith. A revised conception of mascu- line-feminine differences in play activities. The Journal of Genetic Psychology 96:165-170, 1960. Simmons, K. Physical growth and development. Monograph of the Society for Researgh in Child Development 9(1), 1944. Slovic, P. Risk-taking in children: age and sex differences. Child Development 37:169-176, 1966. Spiro, M.E. Kibbutz: Venture in Utopia. Cambridge: Harvard Univer- sity Press, 1956. . Children of the Kibbutz. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1958. Stone, G.P. The play of little children. Quest 4:23-31, 1965. Sutton-Smith, B. The Games of New Zealand Children. Berkley: University of California Press, 1959. Sutton-Smith, B. and B.G. Rosenberg. Sixty years of historical change in the game preferences of American children. Journal of American Folklore 74:17-46, 1961. Sutton-Smith, B. and B.G. Rosenberg and E.F. Morgan, Jr. DevelOpment of sex differences in play choices during preadolescence. Child Development 34:119-126, 1963. Tanner, J.M. Growth at Adolescence. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1962. Terman, L. Genetic Studies_of Genius, Volume I. Palo Alto: Stan- ford University Press, 1926. 82 Terman, L. and L.E. Tyler. Psycholgoical sex differences. Manual of Child Psychology (ed. L. Carmichael) New York: Wiley, 1954. Youth Sports Report to the Joint Logislative Study Committee. State of Michigan, 1976. Witing, B.B. (ed.) Six Cultures: studies of child rearing. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1963. APPENDICES APPENDIX A STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE PARENT QUESTIONNAIRE sun. CARL a. must“. CO-CHAIRMAN m it". JAMES E. O'NEILL CO-CHAHIMAN SEN. JOSEPH M. s~voza 83 State of Michigan can. ”I WIVIIIITI" STUDY EMITTII Heaven sun Unison-1v Norma"! Moc'uufl unwary ‘0“ 6‘" a. con-m JOINT LIBIILATIVI ITUDY COMMITTEE 7". WWMV '" III. MICNAIL J. GIIFP’IN “(mun no. uccvm i. uasm ON YOUTH IPDRTI PROGRAM. mm sun mummy Dear Student. The State Legislature of Michigan and seserul state universities are interested in learning about the types ot‘ sports that are play ed by Mieliipn children and yomh. You haie been selected from the sehool population of Michigan to help in providing this information. We ask that you answer the questions on the following pages after your teacher explains the directions for each of them. Thank you for your help. Vern Seet'eldt Project Director. Michigan State l'nisersit)‘ For the Unisersities Study Committee PLEASE PRINT THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION NAME' 11 “m GRADE' ADDREssz—mrmtw— SEX: (circlel Male Female CITV 7" AGE. PHONE' THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION THE STUDY COMMITTEE -: fi PLEASE DO NOT WRITE IN THIS SPACE 1 ll LL ll 1 Lgfilx 1 ”Di S: SGT an CV LO. 6 A Card I)“ MI III III III IIOIZI "$10 (ISIII IITI III) III-22D I133 Tunis—l mm 84 RECREATIONAL OR FREE-PLAY ACTIVITIES Directions: Free-play activities are sports often played on a recreational basis. This means that there are no official teams, orpnized leagues or tournaments. These activities could be played in backyards, in the neighborhood, at the local playground. in e YMCA building, on the beach and other similar places. Recreational play may take place alone, with friends or with parents. It does not include school-sponsored sport progams or .. 11:, -:‘ w .6 competitive WWII“! such as Babe Ruth Baseball. For each sport listed below, circle the letter that best fits your level of participation in that sport on a reaeational or free play basis during the past twelve (12) months. lt is important that y0u circle one (I) ietter for each sport listed. N (Never) Circle N it y0u did not play the sport as a Iree-play activity during the met twelve (12) months. 5 (Sometimes) Circle 5 it you played the sport as a free-play activity one to three “-3) times during the past twelve (12) maths. 0 (Chen) Circle 0 it you played the sport as a Ireeplay activity four (4) times or more during the past twelve I 72) rrtonths. lt yOu have played in any tree-play sport not listed please write the name of the sport on one of the blanks at the and of the list. Examples of some other sports are fencing, dancing and boxing. NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN IN) (S) (O) (N) (8) IO) Activity 1-3 Times 4 or Activity 1.3 Times 4 or per year more per year more Times Times per yr. per yr. 1 2 3 1 2 3 Archery (1-26) N S 0 Ice Skating . (145) N s 0 Roller Badminton ll-27) N S 0 Skating (146) N S 0 Baseball Scuba (Hardball) (1-28) N S O Diving (147) N S O Softball (129) N S O Snorkel- ing (148) N S 0 Cross Country Basketball (1-30) N S 0 Skiing (149) N S O Bicycling I‘l-31l N S O Downhill Skiing (l-SOl N S 0 Water Bowling (l-32l N S O Skiing ”-51 l N S O Tackle Soccer (1-52) N S O TFooitibanFl "'33, N S 0 Swimming (153) N S O ouc 0' '9 Synchronized Football (1-34) N S 0 Swimming (154) N s 0 Table 39W “'35’ N 5 0 Tennis (1.55) N s o inlature ' . Golf l1-36l N s 0 lat; ‘1 56’ N s 0 Horseback "'9'“ “'38) N s 0 Volleyball (158) N s 0 Floor Weight ' “Wk" “'39’ N 5 ° Lifting (1.59) N s 0 cc . Hockey (140) N s o “"5"” "60) N s o Jogging (141) N S‘ 0 (161.162) S O Judo li-42l N S 0 ll-63, 154) S 0 Karate (1-43) N S O Kickball (144) N S 0 (1-65, 1-66) 8 0 ST OPl PLEASE DO NOT GO ON UNTIL YOU ARE TOLD TO DO SO! 85 INTRAMURAL ACTIVITIES (WITHIN-SCHOOL COMPETITION) Directions: Intramural activities include all school-sponsored sports of a competitive or recreational nature that do not involve competition with ether schools. Examples include flag football competition between the homerooms of your school, or a spatial interest woup such as gymnastics that meets on a regular basis. Activities played during physical education classes and unsupervised play periods are not intramural activities. For each sport listed below. circle the letter that best fits your level of participation in an intramural sport during the past twelve (12) months. it is important that you circle one (1) letter for each sport listed. N (Never) Circle N if you did not play the sport as an intramural activity during the past twelve I 12] months. S (Sometimes) Circle S if you played the sport for only part of the intramural season during the past twelve (12) months. 0 (Often) Circle 0 if you played the sport for the entire intramural season during the past twelve (12) months. if you have played any intramural sport not listed please write the name of the sport on one of the blanks at the end of the list. Eaemples of some other sports are fencing, dancing and archery. NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN IN) (S) (O) IN) (S) (0) Activity Part of Entire Activity Part of Entire Season Season Season Season 1 2 3 1 2 3 Basketball (1.67) N S O Softball (1-74) N S 0 Touch or Flag Table Football (1-68) N S 0 Tennis (1 ~75) N S 0 Field Tennis (1-76) N S 0 Hockey (159) N S 0 Floor Volleyball (1-77) N S 0 Hockey (1-70) N S 0 Wrestling (1-78) N S 0 Gymnastics (1-71) N S O Downhill Skiing (1-72) N S 0 (1-79, 180) S 0 Soccer (1-73) N S O STOP! PLEASE DO NOT GO ON UNTIL YOU ARE TOLD TO DO SO! INTERSCHOLASTIC ACTIVITIES (BETWEEN-SCHOOL COMPETITION) auctions: Interscholastic activities are those sports involving competition between teams from different schools. An example is the football team of your school playing the football team from another school. For each sport listed below. circle the letter that best fits your level of participation as a member of a school team during the past twelve (12) months. It is important that yOu circle one (II letter for each sport listed. N (Never) Circle N if yOu did not play the sport as an interscholastic activity during the past twelve (12) months. 5 (Sometimes) Circle 5 if y0u played on a school team for only part of the interscholastic season during the past twelve (12) maths. 0 (Chen) Circle 0 if you played on a school team for the entire interscholastic season during the past twelve (12) months. (Even if unable to play due to an injury.) if you have played any interscholastic sport not listed please write the name of the sport on one of the blanks at the end of the list. Examples of some other sports are fencing. table tennis. dancing, horse events. archery and boxing. NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN (N) (S) (O) IN) IS) (0) Activity Part of Entire Activity Part of Entire Season Season Season Season 1 2 3 1 2 3 Baseball Downhill (Hardball) (226) N S O Skiing (236) N S O Softball (227) N S 0 Soccer (23?) N S O Sprinwoard Basketball (2-28) N S O Diving (2-38) N S O Tackle Swimming (2.39) N S 0 Football I2-29) N 5 O Synchronized Touch or Flag Swimming (240) N S 0 Football (2-30) N S 0 Golf (not _ miniature) (2.31 ) N S 0 Tennis (241 l N S 0 Track 8i Gymnastics (2-32) N S O Field (242) N S 0 Field Hockey (233) N S 0 Volleyball (243) N S 0 Ice Wrestling (244) N S 0 Hockey (2-34) N S 0 Cross Country (245. 246) S 0 Running (2-35) N S O STOP! PLEASE DO NOT GO ON UNTIL YOU ARE TOLD TO DO SO! 86 AGENCY-SPONSORED ACTIVITIES auctions: Agency-sponsored activities involve competition between individuals, teams. clubs or groups that are not sponsored by the school. Contests are played according to an approved set of rules under the supervision of officials, such as referees. umpires, timers and judges. Often, these sport clubs or teams are orpnized into leagues with a specified schedule of mines to be played. Examples of agency-sponsored sport prowams are Little League baseball and A.A.U. swimming. Also included are community- sponsored orpnizat‘ions such as swimming, ice hockey, and track-end-field clubs that mmpate apinst similar youps. as well as individual sport events such as golf and tennis tournaments. For each sport listed below, circle the letter that best fits your level of participation as a marnber of an agency-sponsored activity during the past twelve (12) months. lt is important that you circle one It) letter for each sport listed. N (Never) 5 (Sometimes) O (Often) Circle N if you did not play the sport as an agency-spammed activity during the pest nivelve (12] months. Circle 5 if you played the sport individually or as a member of an agancyeponsored team for only part of the season during the past twelve (72) months. Circle 0 if you played the sport individually or as a member of an agency-sponsored team for the entire season during the past twelve (12] months. (Even it unable to play due to an injury.) It you have played any agncy-sponsored sport not listed please write the name of the sport on one of the blanks at the end of the list. Examples of some other sports are Iencing, table tennis. dancing. horse events and archery. NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN IN) (S) (O) (N) (S) (0) Activity Part of Entire Activity Part of Entire Season Season Season Season 1 2 3 1 2 3 Baseball Cross COuntry (Hardball) (247) N S O Skiing (261) N S O Downhill Softball (248) N S O Skiing (2-62) N S 0 Basketball (2-49) N S 0 Water Skiing (2-83) N S 0 Bowling I2-50) N S 0 Soccer (264) N S O Springboel’d Baiting (2-51) N S O Diving (265) N S O Tackle Swimming (2-66) N S 0 Football (2-52) N S O . TOUCI'I Of FIIg sgCDTOIIIZId (2'67I N s 0 Football (2-53) N s 0 "“"""° 5°" (not Tennis (268) N S O miniature) (2-54) N S 0 Track & . Gymnastics (255) N s o wig): ‘2“) N s O I“ . . .7 a“... 0-56» ~ 5 ° $11333, 8.7?) I: 2 8 Judo (2-57) N S O Karate (2-58) N S 0 (2-72, 2-73) S 0 Cross Country Running (2-59) N S 0 (2-74, 2-75) S O Figire Skating (2-60) N S O THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION! 87 State of Michigan SEN. CARL 0. menu melanin STUDY CO-CHAIRMAN conceit-rel nee. snares :. omeiu. ueniaan state university CO-CHAlRMAN m mm aces. JOSEPH M. auvoelt university sen. onnv o. cortam “"- Mici-inac J. “awn" JOINT LEOIILATIVE STUDY COMMITTEE mmxSn" no. ucuvm t. ulna! ON YOUTH SPORT! PROGRAMS mes asses university Dear Parent or Guardian, The State Legislature of Michigan and several state universities are interested in learning about the activity patterns oftheboysandgirlsbetween theagesoffiveandsixteenyears. Your child’s class has been selected as part of a state-wide sample to determine what sports and pines are being played and how many boys and girls participate in them. The activities of interest are divided into four lists as follows: those that are offered by your child's school (interscholastic and intramural) and those that are played outside of your child ’s school (agencyasponsored and free-play) Since the completion and return of every questionnaire is important, your cooperation is responding to the information requested is greatly appreciated. Individual answers will remain confidential. Thank you for your cooperation. Vern Seefeldt Project Director. Michigan State University For the Universities Study Committee PLEASE PRINT THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION NAME' ”7 WW— GRADE' ADDREszw SEX: (circle) Male Female —!Frv fl!— AGE: PHONE- THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION THE STUDY COMMITTEE PLEASE DO NOT WRITE IN THIS SPACE lltl 43L T 0v LO. A s (1-2) (3“ (‘0) (7) (I) (Il (1012) (13“) (1‘10) It‘ll (1|) (II-22) (”I (2&2!) 88 RECREATIONAL OR FREE-PLAY ACTIVITIES Dresden: FMM”WWWNMMMOMIWCM~.NMMMUE nooflic'nlturemrpiiiaedleagumortomtmsminlornUplaynwytabapleeeinhdty-dandienWJtme loci W. lna YMCA buildmonthebuchandinmsimiluplacas.Receetlorwlplaymaytaltaplaeaalona,widifrlends erwithparents.ltaumimmwwmmammmmMmaMan L—gisebautmi. Forcommute-dm.“mm~m%m¢fl'swdeMmmamuhm beatsdwlngthep-ttswlvalnlmonms. ltlslmpar'itthatvoudcleanallllettarler-ehmoitliasad. NtNeverl arclaNltyoiemdddldnorplevdwmonuahea-playaeuwtydwingmemmIlzlnionrns. Slice-tines) cecleSilwouldpleyeddiemutuahea-uayaetivltymuoeeell-Jldnwsdwingmemmnfl We. Olortenl CIrcleOllyowdilldmmmmaWMWldlwmde-pauwwllfl W. Example: llyouchlldweritaruneningfour(Olmmbm.due0mm0nmemm.flmm~nroll¢ Nutvtgtwoalmdmmebuthw(12lmom.ciuesmrollam llyoudildhaphyedanyh'ea-maysportnotllatad.“mmmdmemutenmeblanksatdieendafthellat. Ennflasolaenwodtarsportsaremomelngandbam NEVER ”METIMES OFTEN NEVER DMETIMES OFTEN IN) (S) (O) (N) (S) (0) Activity 1-3 Tim- 4 or Activity 1-3 Tlrnu 4 or per year more per year more Tim. Tim. 9' W I We 1 2 3 1 2 3 Archty (1-26) N S O In Skating (145) N S 0 Roller Ildmlnton "-211 N S 0 Skating (146) N S O Iaalball Soiba (Hardball) "-281 N S O Diving (147) N S O Softball (1-29) N S O Snorkel- ifll (148) N S 0 Got County ”email (1-30) N S O 9tilng (149) N S O W ' "-3" N S O Downhill W Skiing (160) N S 0 Wear Bowling (1-32) N S O Skiing (1.51) N S O TOOK). Soccer (1-52) N S 0 Football "-331 N S O Whig "-631 N S O Tossch or Flag Syndironlzed Tfila :60: "-351 N s 0 tennis "-561 N S 0 Golf (1.33) N s o :23“: "a" N s o Nor-back ' Ft?" "‘3” " s 0 Volleyball (teal N s 0 mt MW "'3’ N S 0 Lu”. "a, N s o lee Hockey ii-eoi N s o ""‘m "w " 3 ° .loulng (141) N s 0 (161.162) 8 0 Mo (1421 N S 0 "as. tail 8 0 Karate (143) N S O Kldtball (144) N S O (1‘5. 1-06) 8 O 89 INTRAMURAL ACTIVITIES (WITHINSCHOOL COMPETITION) m lneamuai aetivltieslneludeell schooleponeoredmortactivitlesorecampetitivecrreceetional madden" lnvchnconmetltionwlthotncschoobenddanortakepleadurinenhvaialcountloncla-ee.Eimmpleaincludellagfootbell motionbeoveenmehomolyoudiild'samoolmraspecial Mtarestcoupsudi-gynvuticsthetmaeucnereguler his. hmmlbmdbdow.&chmalemm¢batfltemdfild'ewdmlnanWmdwingtheuet minimums. ltisimportantthetyoudrdeenelllleteerloreacheocrtlisead. NlNas') ChdeNifyotedelddflnorpbymdwmgtheoelnseI—Ilzlmondia. SISormtlmeel arcleS it you ehlld phyedlnolwduallyu-am-molamm'lummofnmactwotflng tiremnsdvellzlnrondie. OlONenl CkcleOiiyourehiidplayedlWyG-amdamfcwmiwmtywingdw ~rreolvell21montlis. Nyeteehild h-playedanyinoamurelsportnotliseedplmaevwmmemoltheeportonorwotthebuloatthaendoldwllet. Emelmnwochceportserel‘encingdmclngendcchary. NEVER SOMETIMES OFTEN NEVER ”METIMES OFTEN (N) (S) (O) (N) (S) (O) Activity Pvt of Entire Activity Part of Entire Semen Sewn Season Season 1 2 3 1 2 3 “email (167) N S O Softball (1-74) N S O Toudi or Flag Title Foodsell "-681 N S 0 Tennis “-751 N S 0 Field Tennis (1-78) N S 0 Hockey "-691 N S 0 Floor Volleyball (1-77) N S 0 Hockey "-701 N S O Wrutllng (1-78) N S 0 Gymnastics "-7" N S O Downhill Skiing (1-72) N S 0 (1-79. 1-80) S O Soccu (1-73) N S O INTERSCHOLASTIC ACTIVITIES (BETWEENSCl-IOOL COMPETITION) Braden: lneerscholaetlcactltetiasareMminvolwngmme-neMdflu-RMMemhme lootballuamolyoudiud'sadicolpbvlncthelootbdluunhomnothcsuiool. heeehmcrtlleted below.”mmmmflommiu'snwldmuamdawmwngm useivalwit‘a'lmentlis. itlslmperumthetyoueireieanallliattarlcreeshspcrtiiased. NINanl cede N ammummmm-mwmmmmmnzlm. SW) Circle S "matuh-Monawmhwymolmelmcmmmam Milan-end); OIOIIenl WOflmmMMMMaMth-MWmmmfim (121m. (Even iluruletoptayduemeniniury.) Nyaudllldhmphyedeny Wmmiwmmmmmmmmmumamuummdm “mummmnmmm.mmmmuanm NEVER ”METINES OFTEN NEVER ”METINES OFTEN (N) (S) (O) (N) (S) (O) Activity PC! of Entire Activity Fat or Entire Season Season Season Season 1 2 3 1 2 3 WI Downhill (Hardball) (2-28) N S O Skiing (268) N S O Soltball (2-27) N S O Socct (2-37) N S O W Saltetbell (248) N S O Diving . 7 (2-38) N S O Tackle Swimming (2-39) N S O Touch or Flag Swimming (240) N S O Foomall (280) N S O Golf (not miniature) (2-31) N S O lTennis (241) N S 0 Track E Gym (2-32) N S O . Field (242) N S 0 Field Hockey (2-33) N S O Volley”) (243) N S O In Wing (24) N S 0 Rodney (24%) N S 0 Oc- Country (246. 248) S 0 Running (2.“) N S O 90 AGENCY-SPONSORED ACTIVITIES W Wmmimmmmcm. cltbeor'oupethetarenoreoonaoredby meadiool. Wmmmmmmmmofruuummwhofoflicfls. aidiaamferees. umpires onus-dim. Olun, muesputduuammupniadimmwMemadfbdaflwdueofmmbephyed. Samples of annoy-sprinted sport crowns ca Little League bauell and A.A.U. eiivlrrening. Aim included as mity- Mormiutiorusuchasavimming,icahockey,arldeeckarl04ielddtbsthatmwmm.wefles btdlvlduospcrteventssuchasplfendtennistcm. mechsportlieted m.mmmmamflommud'smumuamormmm ecslvltyduringtnepaattwelvelizlmonths.ltislmpcrtantthatyouclrclecnalflleteerfcreechapcrtlisted. N (New) S mine) 0 (Ohm) Circle N Nyoudillddldnerphymmecdvnydwhgdwpeuaerlmmm. Circle S ifmmmmmWyauamunn-wwmfumymof tfieeuonduringthepaetnseln IfSlmonrlls. Clrde O lfyosediiid fiyedtheeputindwiduellyorasaWofenmncmeformeme mdwmrbaunnedeallemJEvenih-ulemueyduetoanlniuryJ Nyeurchlld haphyedemonnmumdmmmemofmemmmMmauamumeud “ME-mofmmmmmwemfimdnghomwumumy. NEVER ”NETINES OFTEN NEVER METINES OFTEN (N) (S) (O) (N) (S) (0) Activity Part of Entire Activity Part of Entire Seaeon Seaeon Seaeon Season 1 2 3 1 2 3 Samball Cro. (WI) (247) N S O Skiing (261) N S O Downhill Softball (248) N S O Skiing (2-62) N S O Sedtetball (249) N S 0 Water Skiing (2-63) N S O Rowling (2-50) N S 0 Soccer (26‘) N S 0 some Soehg (2-61) N S O Diving (245) N S O Tackle F I ll “.52, N S O :wlmmlngw (266) N S 0 Town or Flee may (26?) N 8 0 (2-53) N S 0 Golf (not Tennis (2681 N S O miniature) (2-9) N S 0 Track & Oymr-tlce ia-sei N s 0 WE: ‘2‘” " 3 ° la ‘2'“, fl S 0 (2-70) N S 0 MI “0“" (267) N S 0 Wrestling (2-71) N S 0 Karma (26.) N S O (2-72. 2-73) S 0 Oc- Country Running (2-ESI N S 0 (2-14. 245) S 0 Flora Skating (260) N S O THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATIONI APPENDIX B LIST OF PARTICIPATING SCHOOL DISTRICTS 91 LIST OF PARTICIPATING SCHOOL DISTRICTS The following is a list of the school districts participating in the Joint Legislative Study on Youth Sports Programs. Adrian Public Allen Park Public Allegan Public Alpena Public Ann Arbor Public Bay City Private Bay City Public Bedford Public Bendle Public Berkely Public Birmingham Private Birmingham Public Brighton Public Bronson Public Calumet Public Carson City Public Caseville Public Cass City Public Cedar Springs Public Chelsea Public Clio Public Covert Public Davidson Public Dearborn City Private Dearborn City Public Detroit City Private Detroit City Public East China Public East Lansing Public Farmington Public Farwell Public Flint Private Flint Public Fraser Public Galesburg-Augusta Public Garden City Public Grand Rapids Catholic Grand Rapids Christian Grand Rapids Public Greenville Public Gwinn Public Hamtramck Private Hazle Park Public Highland Park Public Holland Christian Holland Public Hudson Public Inkster Public Jackson Private Jackson Public Kalamazoo Private Kalamazoo Public Kentwood Public Lakeshore Public Lakeview Public Lakeville Public L'Anse Public Lansing Catholic Lansing Public Lapeer Public Livonia Public Mackinaw Public Mason County Public Midland Private Midland Public Millington Public M10 Public Montague Public Muskegon Public 92 LIST OF PARTICIPATING SCHOOL DISTRICTS (Continued) North Dearborn Hts. Public Saginaw Township Public Northwest Public Saline Public Otsego Public Sault St. Marie Public Petosky Private Sebewaing-Unionville Petosky Public Southgate Public Pewamo Public Taylor Public Plymouth Public Three Rivers Public Pontiac Public Traverse City Public Port Huron Public Utica Public Rapid River Public Van Dyke Public Reed City Public Waldron Public Rogers City Private Warren Public Rogers City Public Waterford Public Royal Oak Private WayneéWestland Public Royal Oak Public West Ottawa Public Saginaw Private White Pine Public Saginaw Public Willow Run Public APPENDIX C INSTRUCTIONS TO TEACHERS K-6 GRADES INSTRUCTION TO TEACHERS 6-11 GRADES 93 State of Michigan ‘5‘ .‘ IVA" ”01'“ ”one“ a“ M mun I'M m h in. I. rue-u. II"! 893-07“ M .s-ult ena- JOINT “OI-LAM ITUDY COMMITTEE ....n..._g ..nn. IIII‘YIILTTIO IHPIIIFTII FHIIJIIIUKI‘II JOINT LEGISMTIVE STUDY CMTTEE ON YOUTH SPORTS PROGRAMS INSTRUCTIONS TO TEACHERS: K - 6 Dear Teacher: The Michigan State Legislature is sponsoring a study to deteraine the nunber of children in the state who participate in youth sports. Faculty and graduate students in the Depart-ants of Physical Education iron Michigan State University. The University of Michigan. Northern Michigan University and Wayne State University are conducting the survey to evaluate the extent of participation. Your cooperation is requested in securing this information free the parents of the children in your class. below are instructions to assist you in this task. Instructions 1. You vill receive a supply at questionnaires iron your principal to be coepleted by the parents 2; guardians of the children in your class. 2. Distribute one questionnaire to each child in your class just before the children leave for hole. 3. leaind the children that they should give it to their parents (or guardians. aunt. uncle. older brother. older sister) as soon as they get hone. Ask the students to return the questionnaire as soon as possible. c. leap the questionnaires in a secure place vhen they are returned. Children who did not return the questionnaire by the end of the second day should be reuinded verbally to bring their coepleted fares to you. 3. Children who have not returned their questionnaire by the end of the fifth day should be given a second questionnaire to take hone. It is iaportant that a high percentage (90 percent or sore) of the questionnaires are returned so that the results of the sanple are valid. Any assistance on your part to assure a high return. such as a phone call to delinquent parents. will be greatly appreciated. 6. Allow five additional school days to have the second questionnaire returned. 7. At the tine the questionnaires are returned, please ensure that the background inforlation has been provided and that the reseining sections have been conpleted. 1°. 94 Near the botton of page I. just above the double line locate the row of numbers (I 2 3 6 S 6) and circle the number corresponding to the race of the child according to the following code: black Chicano Native Aeerican (Indian) Oriental White Other ouaunw IUIIII The question of race is a sensitive issue with aoae parents and. therefore, we are asking teachers to provide this infornation. Identification by race is an inportant aspect in studying the sociological effects of youth sports conpetition. Individual results of this study will be treated in strictest confidence by adherence to a policy of anonyeity. When all the questionnaires are conpleted and checked or after ten total school days have passed. place all questionnaires (co-plate and blank) in the envelope provided and return the packet to the principal's office. Your principal will forward then to the investigating teae. Any questions should be directed to your principal. Thank you for your tine and effort in supporting this inportant project. 95 State of Michigan 1 IPA" cannot .1. cast a. m '9‘ led M uusmn. anon. one: . m ‘ owe-u... flt'n ave-even M .. ”a a... JOINT umaunvr s'ruov COMMITTtt :7, 3.2;: $2,... cm YOUTH spon'ra PROGRAMS ~~V~LE~ JOINT LEGISLATIVE STUDY COHITTEE ON YOUTH SPORTS PROGRAMS INSTRUCTIONS TO TEACHERS: 6 - 12 Dear Teacher: The Michigan State Legislature is sponsoring a study to deter-ins the nuder of children in the state who participate in youth sports. Faculty and graduate students in the Oapartnents of Physical Education from Michigan State University. The University of Michigan. Northern Michigan University. and Wayne State University are conducting the survey to evaluate the extent of participation. The students in your class have been selected fron the school population of Michigan to help supply this information. We appreciate your cooperation in administering the enclosed questionnaires to the students in your class. below are instructions to assist you in this task. Instructions 1. lecone thoroughly faniliar with the questionnaire bv noting (a) its for-at: (b) directions to the student; (c) definitions and (d) the various settings in which youth sports are sponsored. Also. note the procedures to be used by the student in responding to the questionnaire. Adninistration of the questionnaire will require approxinately lO - lS ninutes. 2. There are several terns defined below that are isportant for you and the student to understand. Please read then carefully. If you have a question about any of these terns please ask your principal for clarification. a. Recreational or Pree-Play Activities - These sports or physical activities are played outside of school. These activities could be played in backyards. in the neighborhood. at the playground. on the beach, at the YMCA and nany other places. Pres play say be an activity that a student does alone. with friends or with parents. b. Intranural Activities (Within-School Conpetition) - This is athletic cospetition between teans or individuals within your own school. The activity usually takes place after school. but it night also occur during school (e.g.. lunch hour). There say be soae structure to these activities in that they sight involve tournanents and student officials. Also. they are supervised by personnel in the physical education and/or athletic depart-ent. Please don't confuse these activities with free play. recess or physical education classes. 3. C. 96 Interscholastic Activities (between School Coastition) - This is defined as athletic coastition between your school ad another school. It involves officials. coaches. leagues and league tournanents. Iowevsr. this does not include "sport days." ad "play days.” Agency Sponsored Coastition - These sports are L01; sponsored by the school or ay school organisation. They take place outside of school. These sports nust have a sponsoring agency such as lbnicipal League. ons Cla. MA. Jewish Co-nity Center. Ansrican Legion. local coastitive leagues sponsored by your town recreational depart-at ad at least one of the following points: I) referees present during the gen 2) coaches assigned to teens (individuals) 3) part of a league a) league tournaaents The following hints say be helpful to you in administering the questionnaire. These were coailed fron suggestions by other teachers during pilot testing for this study. lahasise to the student that if he or she does not know what the sport is. then circle RIVER for the response. Don't ask what it tel! Rationale: Students will know the names of the activities in which they have coasted. lead the student instructions to the class ad have then read along with you for the first page only. Instruct the students to coalets only the first page ad not to go on to the next section util they are told to do so. nun read the student instructions to the class for the second page. lepeat this process for the third ad fourth pages. I) labesiaa that they should keep in nind only the type of coastition for that particular section. Per staple. page two is concerned with recreational sports. The student should consider on! free play activities for that page when filling in the list of sports. 2) lationale: Since each page of activities is specific to one type of sport (e.g. recreation). the student has to keep only one type in aind as helshe coaletes the page. If each student atteats to couplets the questionnaire on his/her own. then helshe nay tad to confuse the types of coastition free one page to another. The tins period we wish the students to consider is the past 12 soothe. It nay be helpful to delineate this tins period in relationship to a holiday. Por eaaple. if this questionnaire was being adninistered on or near Thaksgiving. ask than to recall which activities they coasted in since last Thaksgiving. Por between school ad within school coastition. all students should consider the past 12 nonths even though so- aay have been in a different school or grade. If a student coasted on a teen or on a individual basis for the entire season for a given sport. then helshe should circle OFTEN (even if side-lined by an injury) in response to his/her level of participation for that sport. If a studat was injured. it would be appreciated if helshe would write in "injured” neat to the sport. APPENDIX D FORM FOR RECORDING MISSING DATA IO. 11. 12. 97 a. Pot between school conpetition. (Page 3) give an era-ole naning your school versus another school in your schoolk league. f. You night be able to help the student identify a sponsoring agency (page 6) by offering axe-plea relevant to your coaunity. For exanple. in Ypsilanti. boy's Club and the Ypsilanti Recreation Depart-ent are popular sponsoring agencies. g. zephasiae that if a student coepeted in a sport which is not listed. helshe say write in the nane of the sport on one of the blanks provided with each list of sports. h. If you are certain that your school does not sponsor within or between school conpetition. please ignore page 3. Distribute the questionnaire to the students. Ask than not to begin writing until instructed to do so. Each student should have a pen or pencil available. Read the eessage to the students indicating the general purpose of the questionnaire. have each student provide the background infornation requested on page 1. (PLEASE PRINT!) Do not let the students continue to the next page until told to do so. Soae students any need help in deter-ining the year of their birth. lead the instructions on page two to the students. he sure they understand what to do. If sole unique activities are available in your con-unity that are not listed. eention then to your students. If there is a question whether an activity qualifies as a sport. have the student write its naee on the space provided at the end of the list. Its appropriateness will be detaruined by the research team. (This also applies to the next two pages of the questionnaire.) Do not allow students to continue to the next page until told to do so. lead the two sets of instructions on page 3 to the students. Clarify questions. Interscholastic or intranural activities that are not included should be written in the spaces at the and of each list. lead the instructions on page b to the students. Answer questions. be sure they mderstad what agency-sponsored sports include. Collect the questionnaires free the students and thank then for their cooperation. Adninister the questionnaires at an appointed class tine. Do not atteept to include students. by subsequent adeinistrations. who were absent on the initial adainistration. hear the botton of page I just above the double line locate the row of nuabers (l 2 3 d S 6) ad circle the amber corresponding to the race of the student according to the following code: I. Black 2. Chicano 3. lative Aserican (Indian) 6. Oriental 5. White 6. Other 13. 14. 15. 98 Because of the sensitive nature of questions dealing with race we are asking teachers to provide this information. Identification by race is an important aspect in studying the sociological effects of youth sports competition. Individual results of this study will be treated in strictest confidence by adherence to a policy of anonymity. Please ensure that the background information has been provided and that the remaining sections have been completed. Place all questionnaires (complete and blank) in the envelope provided and return the packet to the principal's office. Your principal will forward the question- naires to the university team. Any questions should be directed to your principal. Thank you for your time and effort in supporting this important project. 99 muwm wmju mas—u muzufih doc—6m odnamn ecu cu msoouunnau mnoqum> 0:» on wnucamuuwn commonsense mounoHHou ecu unoavuu o: .nouuuoom :H MUS— xmm mzo=mmquh mHN is Hung—Hm g2 Ax wax u an wounouocu sum nouuomoumu munn msaonuzv voumoarox nouumauoucn wan wousoum seesaw ua>uoun unasowuuon on» on Boannufiuua as... 3.35 S on» nouoouocu ououwu aw: .mmquoa uo oceans flouou ago we mowuun unusuauuoa ecu ow vounoauauunn one nucoonun 8.35:» on amazes .Eeoa any mounuaocw ouowwu away was soundness ouawuu mash .Hunmamun 488A... «5 an 88233 announce «0 «mambz Amz omega .ouflflfiflu xmmmo< Gui 0u0£u eoenu neon mu .HH mn