The reasons young athletes drop out of sport have eluded scientists and sport organizations for many decades. Despite a large body of research on the subject, unanswered questions remain. This ...article reports on a new research approach that analyses sport withdrawal as a process. The study draws on Ebaugh’s sociological theory of disengagement and is based on data from semi-structured interviews with 12 girls aged 12 to 17 and 12 of their parents. By studying withdrawal from sport as a process, we found that the reasons comprise a combination of several salient interplaying factors related to changes. Organizational changes in sport and changes in the young athletes’ overall lives, together with changes in normative cultural and individual expectations associated with the young athlete role, are decisive for these girls to withdraw from sport. Furthermore, the disengagement process may be fairly long and emotional for young athletes, and less reversible the further into the process they progress.
Child abuse in sports is a significant threat to the well-being of young athletes. The aim of this study was to create in-depth knowledge of children’s perspectives and relational situations ...regarding the manifestation and effects of emotional abuse towards athletes in children’s sports. Based on interviews with 15 children aged 12–18 and five coaches, five themes of emotionally abusive interactions were identified: (a) scolding by coaches; (b) negative criticism from coaches and children; (c) expression of aggression and disappointment by coaches; (d) teasing and joking by children; and (e) denial of attention and support from coaches. These interactions lead to emotionally harmful effects for some of the children, which were not always recognized by coaches and were sometimes downplayed. The findings have implications for identifying situations and behaviours that may constitute emotional abuse in children’s sports, paving the way for proactive measures aimed at preventing emotional abuse.
The aim of this study was to examine the challenges of being either a parent-coach or a child-athlete of a coach within the context of Swedish youth sport. Conceptually, this paper draws on ...educational and sociological theories regarding changing perspectives in child-rearing. The results are based on data gathered from interviews with parent-coaches and child-athletes (age 13-15) of coaches involved in team sports. The results indicate that a range of meanings emerged through these unique sets of interactions, resulting in both positive and negative experiences for both children and their parents. To manage the perceived challenges, four behavioural strategies were used including fairness, distancing, defence and quitting. Overall, this study provides a deeper understanding of the challenges of these unique dual roles in relation to contemporary child-rearing perspectives.
The purpose of this paper is to use the theoretical standpoint of sociology of childhood to enhance understanding about how children’s rights, as outlined by the United Nations Convention on the ...Rights of the Child, are experienced by child athletes and adult coaches in the context of sport clubs in Sweden. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with children and coaches in floorball and equestrian sports during the years 2011 and 2012. The results showed that neither child athletes nor adult coaches were aware that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child has been incorporated into Swedish sport policy; they also lack knowledge of the convention’s content. After interviews about selected rights were conducted, it was evident that children and adults both considered the themes of those rights to be of utmost importance. However, they did not find the convention meaningful as a policy document, and no systematic, deliberate or preventive work with regard to the rights of the child was experienced in the sport clubs. This paper discusses some challenges in the children’s sport context, including children’s rights, the social ordering of children and adults and the goal of making children’s sport a safe activity for children.
Novice teachers face several challenges during their first years of socialization in schools, often feeling unprepared in managing the full range of teaching duties. If teacher retention and ...attrition are to be improved, research on the difficulties encountered by novice teachers in diverse contexts and cultures is required. There is a lack of studies regarding physical education (PE) teachers’ induction processes, especially outside Anglophone countries. The aim of this study was, from an occupational socialization perspective, to examine how Swedish novice PE teachers experience, perceive and manage their induction process. Through a single-case study design with embedded multiple units of analysis, we interviewed eight Swedish novice PE teachers. Based on thematic analysis, the results show that Swedish novice PE teachers experience several challenges related to reality shock, marginalization and isolation during induction. We identified three approaches used by the novices as central to successfully managing challenges of induction in the Swedish context: (1) socializing into a community of colleagues, (2) performing the role of the PE teacher as health promoter and (3) maintaining a critical teaching perspective. We conclude that these novice teachers’ socialization relies heavily on the individual, and therefore we argue that the induction process could be further facilitated by formal organizational support. This paper confirms long-standing difficulties reported in other countries, and contributes with new knowledge of how the approaches used when managing challenges of induction are contextually dependent due to the social and political surroundings of education.
Transforming Problematic Masculinity: A Case Study of Boys’ Education in the Sports Locker RoomThe purpose of the study was through a case study to analyze the staging and experiences of an ...educational intervention carried out with teamsports active boys in Sweden, which aimed to change a problematic masculinity in Swedish society. The case study is ethnographic in naturewhere an authentic educational process is followed and studied throughobservations, interviews and documents. The empirical material consistsof observations of 14 intervention sessions with 100 boys (10–14 years ofage), interviews with in total 17 participants; ten boys, three coaches, twoeducators and two operations managers. This article problematizes howintentions to change problematic masculinity is expressed through interventions with boys within the framework of team sports in Sweden. Newknowledge is created about how different forms of masculinities are presented, negotiated, and challenged in education of boys in a sports lockerroom context. The results show that with different views on the problemsamong those involved, the intervention, as a solution to problematic masculinity, risks becoming counterproductive, which is reinforced if the content is not relevant to and adapted for the young target group. We arguefor a more nuanced views on problematic masculinity, especially in relation to interventions-based education of young boys in sport as a solutionwhich is in focus in this study.
The purpose of the study was through a case study to analyze the staging and experiences of an educational intervention carried out with team sports active boys in Sweden, which aimed to change a ...problematic masculinity in Swedish society. The case study is ethnographic in nature where an authentic educational process is followed and studied through observations, interviews and documents. The empirical material consists of observations of 14 intervention sessions with 100 boys (10–14 years of age), interviews with in total 17 participants; ten boys, three coaches, two educators and two operations managers. This article problematizes how intentions to change problematic masculinity is expressed through interventions with boys within the framework of team sports in Sweden. New knowledge is created about how different forms of masculinities are presented, negotiated, and challenged in education of boys in a sports locker room context. The results show that with different views on the problems among those involved, the intervention, as a solution to problematic masculinity, risks becoming counterproductive, which is reinforced if the content is not relevant to and adapted for the young target group. We argue for a more nuanced views on problematic masculinity, especially in relation to interventions-based education of young boys in sport as a solution which is in focus in this study.
Syftet med studien var att genom en fallstudie analysera iscensättning och erfarenheter av en pedagogisk intervention genomförd med pojkar aktiva i lagidrott i Sverige, vilken syftade till att förändra problematisk maskulinitet i det svenska samhället. Fallstudien är av etnografisk karaktär där en autentisk utbildningsprocess följs och studeras genom observationer, intervjuer och dokument. Det empiriska materialet består av observationer av 14 interventionstillfällen med 100 pojkar (10–14 års ålder), intervjuer med sammanlagt 17 deltagare; tio pojkar, tre tränare, två utbildare och två verksamhetschefer. Denna artikel problematiserar hur intentioner att förändra problematisk maskulinitet kommer till uttryck genom interventioner med pojkar inom ramen för lagidrott i Sverige. Studien bidrar med ny kunskap om hur olika former av maskuliniteter presenteras, förhandlas och utmanas i utbildning av pojkar i idrottens omklädningsrum. Resultaten visar att med olika syn på problemen bland de inblandade riskerar lösningen att bli kontraproduktiv vilket förstärks om innehållet inte är relevant för, och anpassat till, den unga målgruppen. Vi argumenterar för en mer nyanserad syn på problematisk maskulinitet, särskilt i relation till interventionsbaserad utbildning av unga pojkar inom idrott, vilket är i fokus i denna studie.
Taking the sporting triangle as its point of departure, this study aims to investigate the process of socialisation among the children, coaches, and parents who are involved with club-organised ...girls' and boys' football teams. The study was inspired by a sociocultural perspective and by the new sociology of childhood, which views children as actively participating in the construction of childhood. This article draws on data gathered from ethnographic fieldwork conducted during eight months over a two-year period, which included 60 observations of children's football and interviews with 38 girls and boys (11-12 years old), seven coaches, and eight parents involved with football teams in a Swedish sports club. One overall conclusion about the process of socialisation was that the children, coaches, and parents had different views on what was most valuable in children's football, and these affected what they expected of each other, as well as how they interacted and behaved. It is concluded that children, coaches, and parents operate in what is referred to as different sports worlds based on different predominating behavioural patterns. This article contributes to a deeper understanding of the process of socialisations in the sporting triangle and of how children, coaches, and parents contribute to socialisation in sports.
The aim of this study was to contribute to the research field of children’s rights in sports by synthesizing the scientific approaches applied and topics addressed in previous social science research ...focused on children’s rights per se. A scoping literature review was conducted via database searches (Scopus, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus). The search strategy yielded 44 articles eligible for inclusion. The analysis showed that the articles covered 17 identified topics in total, most frequently abuse. Fewer than half had a direct focus on children’s rights in sports. The research was mostly descriptive, non-theoretical and encompassed few countries, sports and ages. The sample of empirical studies generally encompassed child participants or international policy and regulations. In conclusion, studies with more explanatory and theoretical designs and a clearer, direct focus on children’s rights would be beneficial for enhancing general and theoretical understanding of children’s rights and explaining associated problems.
This article examines the process of gender socialization in girls' and boys' football teams in Swedish children's football. The article draws on data gathered from ethnographic fieldwork over two ...years which involved observations of the daily life of children's football, and interviews with 11-12-year-old girls and boys, their coaches and parents in two sex-segregated football teams. The study is inspired by Connell's gender theory (Connell, Gender, 2002), which provides support for the view that gender is a process of social construction in which children actively participate. An analysis of the ways the girls and boys talk about football and gender demonstrates how girls and boys produce a certain gender performance in the social interaction and how they relate to a male standard that exists in children's football. Overall, this article contributes to a deeper understanding of the relationships between girls and boys and how children contribute to gendered socialization in sport. This article also discusses the relevance of gender equality work in child sport.
PDF
