Becoming an (In-)Active Adult. A Longitudinal Perspective on Involvement in Physical Activity
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CONTRIBUTORS:
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PROCEEDINGS TITLE:
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YEAR:
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2000
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PUB TYPE:
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Conference Paper in Proceedings
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PAGES:
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106 -
n/a
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SUBJECT(S):
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None
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DISCIPLINE:
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Kinesiology
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HTTP:
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LANGUAGE:
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English
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PUB ID:
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103-385-074
(Last edited on
2002/12/21 07:45:10 US/Mountain)
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SPONSOR(S):
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ABSTRACT:
Longitudinal observations of involvement in physical activities such as sport can offer new insight into the processes of adherence to and withdrawal from physical activity, as an important parameter of aspects of fitness, health and well being. By following the same individuals over a part of the lifetime, the relation between earlier experiences in youth and later lifestyle features in adulthood can be analysed (Malina, 1996). Data are presented from the Leuven longitudinal Study on Lifestyle Fitness and Health (Vanreusel e.a., 1997).
Based on theories of socialisation and de-socialisation, a longitudinal follow-up study on patterns of sport involvement was carried out on a sample of men from 17 to 40 years of age (N=188) and among a pilot sample of women from 12-18 to 32-38 years of age (N=71). Both samples are derived from original representative crossectional samples of Belgian (Flemish) youth. Data were collected by personal interview-controlled questionnaries, both at the youth phase and at adult phases. Sport participation variables were broken down into categories from ‘inactive’ to ‘active’ based on time spend on sports activities.
Results for both males and females indicate that sports active youngsters have a slightly better chance to remain active in adulthood. Inactivity however, showed obvious features of tracking from youth to adulthood. A highest score of 73% of inactive girls at age 12 to 14 continued inactivity at age 32 to 34. A highest score of 78% of inactive boys at age 17 were still inactive at the age of 30.
Between youth and adulthood, a process of desocialisation and early dropout is observed for competitive sports and team sports. This pattern of desocialisation is stronger in the female sample. Individual sport activities show a more stable pattern of involvement from youth to adulthood. Fitness-related activities show a typical ‘adult’ sport-socialisation pattern. In general, the data confirm the findings of other longitudinal studies (Yang, 1997).
To conclude, the longitudinal data suggest that physical inactivity, rather than activity, is submitted to a longitudinal socialisation process from youth to adulthood, both among women and men. Adherence to and dropout from sport activities between youth and adulthood are dependent on the type and social context of the activity. The data are interpreted in the light of evidence based policy measures for the promotion of an active lifestyle.
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