Keeping Them in the Game: Taking Up and Dropping Out of Sport and Exercise in Ireland Pete Lunn Elish Kelly Nick Fitzpatrick RESEARCH SERIES NUMBER 33 September 2013 Keeping Them in the Game: Taking Up and Dropping Out of Sport and Exercise in Ireland Pete Lunn Elish Kelly Nick Fitzpatrick RESEARCH SERIES NUMBER 33 September 2013 Available to download from www.esri.ie © The Economic and Social Research Institute Whitaker Square, Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin 2 ISBN 978 0 7070 0 3580 The ESRI The Economic Research Institute was founded in Dublin in 1960, with the assistance of a grant from the Ford Foundation of New York. In 1966 the remit of the Institute was expanded to include social research, resulting in the Institute being renamed The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). In 2010 the Institute entered into a strategic research alliance with Trinity College Dublin, while retaining its status as an independent research institute. The ESRI is governed by an independent Council which acts as the board of the Institute with responsibility for guaranteeing its independence and integrity. The Institute’s research strategy is determined by the Council in association with the Director and staff. The research agenda seeks to contribute to three overarching and interconnected goals, namely, economic growth, social progress and environmental sustainability. The Institute’s research is disseminated through international and national peer reviewed journals and books, in reports and books published directly by the Institute itself and in the Institute’s working paper series. Researchers are responsible for the accuracy of their research. All ESRI books and reports are peer reviewed and these publications and the ESRI’s working papers can be downloaded from the ESRI website at www.esri.ie The Institute’s research is funded from a variety of sources including: an annual grant-in-aid from the Irish Government; competitive research grants (both Irish and international); support for agreed programmes from government departments/agencies and commissioned research projects from public sector bodies. Sponsorship of the Institute’s activities by Irish business and membership subscriptions provide a minor source of additional income. The Authors Pete Lunn is a Senior Research Officer and Elish Kelly is a Research Analyst, both at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). Nick Fitzpatrick was an intern at the ESRI when the research was undertaken. The paper has been accepted for publication by the Institute, which does not itself take institutional policy positions. The authors are solely responsible for the content and the views expressed. Acknowledgements The authors are grateful to the Irish Sports Council for its support and for feedback on initial results and early drafts. In particular, Peter Smyth provided useful comments and observations throughout the project. We thank Catherine Woods for assistance with the CSPPA data and Selina McCoy for help with the SLS data. We also thank Emer Smyth, Frances Ruane and an anonymous referee for insightful comments on earlier drafts. The audience at two ESRI seminars also provided useful input and Seamus McGuinness offered a number of helpful suggestions in relation to the statistical methods, for which we are grateful. Thanks are also due to Regina Moore, Deidre Whitaker, Clare O’Neill and Gillian Davidson for their work in preparing the report for publication. Any mistakes or omissions are our own. Table of Contents | i Table of Contents List of Figures ......................................................................................................................................... iii List of Tables ........................................................................................................................................... v Overview ............................................................................................................................................... vii Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................ ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Background ................................................................................................................................ 1 1.2. Why Does Sport Matter? ........................................................................................................... 2 1.3 International Tracking Studies ................................................................................................... 5 1.4 International Research on Determinants of Change ................................................................. 7 1.5 Sports Participation in Ireland ................................................................................................... 9 1.6 Aims of the Present Study........................................................................................................ 11 CHAPTER 2 DATA, METHODS AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS ..................................................................... 13 2.1 Three Data Sources .................................................................................................................. 13 2.2 Children’s Sport Participation and Physical Activity (CSPPA) Study ........................................ 13 2.3 School Leavers’ Survey (SLS) .................................................................................................... 16 2.4 Irish Sports Monitor (ISM) ....................................................................................................... 17 2.5 Statistical Methods .................................................................................................................. 18 2.6 Research Questions ................................................................................................................. 19 CHAPTER 3 PRIMARY TO SECOND-LEVEL SCHOOL ................................................................................ 23 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 23 3.2 Sport in Fifth and Sixth Class ................................................................................................... 23 3.3 Transition to First Year at Second Level .................................................................................. 29 3.4 Summary and Discussion ......................................................................................................... 34 CHAPTER 4 SECOND-LEVEL PATHWAYS ............................................................................................. 37 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 37 4.2 Comparing Data-Sets ............................................................................................................... 37 4.3 Variation by Gender, Social Class and Type of Activity ........................................................... 41 4.4 The Influence of Other Activities ............................................................................................. 47 4.5 Sports Participation and Scholastic Performance ................................................................... 49 4.6 Post-School Drop-Out .............................................................................................................. 53 4.7 Summary and Discussion ......................................................................................................... 57 CHAPTER 5 BELIEFS, PERCEPTIONS AND ADULT PARTICIPATION .............................................................. 59 5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 59 5.2 The Adult Cross-Section ........................................................................................................... 59 ii | Keeping Them in the Game 5.3 Beliefs About Participation and Health ................................................................................... 63 5.4 The Theory of Planned Behaviour ........................................................................................... 64 5.5 Summary and Discussion ......................................................................................................... 70 CHAPTER 6 TRANSITIONS INTO ACTIVITY: TAKE-UP ............................................................................. 73 6.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 73 6.2 When Do Adults Take Up Activities? ....................................................................................... 74 6.3 What Activities Are Taken Up? ................................................................................................ 75 6.4 Initial Involvement ................................................................................................................... 78 6.5 Determinants of Take-Up ........................................................................................................ 82 6.6 Continuing Involvement .......................................................................................................... 85 6.7 Summary and