Motivation for and Extent of Participation in Organized Sports by High School Seniors

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Abstract
The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to replicate previous studies in which selected demographic and socioeconomic factors were examined as influences on socialization into youth sport and (b) to extend previous research by analyzing the effects of parental influence on involvement in and motivations toward sport. The range of focus in this study was from the time of the subjects' first encounter with organized sport through the senior year of high school. Data were obtained from direct administration of the questionnaire to twelfth-grade students in four Jackson, Mississippi, high schools. Regression analysis revealed that significant independent variables accounted for nearly 26% of the variance in sport involvement in one setting and nearly 10% of the variance in motivations toward involvement in sport and recreational activities. Subjects' gender, their fathers' past athletic experiences, and mothers' educational levels were the most influential independent variables. Influences varied between school sports and out-of-school sports and over the sports career of subjects.

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