The transition to adulthood: a game changer? Panel analyses of the impact of major life events on sport participation Jasper van Houten PhD Candidate Gerbert Kraaykamp Professor of Sociology Ben Pelzer Assistant professor, Methodologist

Sport participation during the life course (NL) Sources: (a)Vrijetijdsomnibus (VTO) 2012 en 2014, SCP/CBS; (b)Gezondheidenquête/Leefstijlmonitor (b), CBS i.s.m. RIVM 2014

Sport participation during the life course (EU) How often do you exercise or play sport? (Source: 2014 Special Eurobarometer 412; Sport and P.A.) Sport club membership (Source: 2014 Special Eurobarometer 412; Sport and P.A.)

Sport participation: a life course perspective adolescence transition to adulthood adulthood Life phases transition to adulthood Life events Starting to work Start cohabiting/ getting married Becoming a parent

Impact of major life events Theory: a resource approach

Impact of major life events Results: earlier research - ? + Chance for (young) adults to start/stop practising a sport ? +

Impact of major life events Research question current research ? ? ?

Method (data) NELLS (NEtherlands Longitudinal Lifecourse Study) National representative panel of 15 to 45 year olds 2 waves: 2009 and 2013 Face-to-face interview & self completion/web survey Excluded from the dataset are respondents who Had an “adult status” at wave 1 but a “adolescent status” at wave 2 (because we want to focus on the major life events that mark the transition to adulthood); N=463 Included in the dataset are respondents who: Participated in both waves and have no missing values (listwise deletion); N=2335 Practised sport (mostly) in a club setting at wave 1; N=522 (for analysing the switch from a club setting to another setting)

Method (measurements, for both waves) Dependent variables: Number of different sports: practised in the last 12 months Sport frequency: times per month Sport setting: Club; Commercial (e.g. health/ fitness centre, gym, ice rink); Group (light community/ informal); Individual (alone); Not practising sport at all Major life events: Adolescent status (e.g. not a parent) = 0 Adult status (e.g. being a parent) = 1 Controls Gender (0=male; 1=female) Etnicity (dutch native=0; immigrant=1) Age

Method (analyses) Number of sports & Sport frequency Regression analyses: Number of sports: poisson Sport frequency: negative binomial (because of overdispersion) Multilevel models for longitudinal data Between person effects: between-person differences (e.g. between parents and non-parents). Within person effects: within-person changes (e.g the effect of becoming a parent) Switching from a club setting to another setting Multinomial logistic regression analyses

Results Number of sports Sport frequency Exp(B) sig. 0.588 0.000***   Number of sports Sport frequency Exp(B) sig. Major life events Educational domain Not in fulltime education vs. in fulltime education (Between) 0.588 0.000*** 0.597 Leaving fulltime education (Within) 0.945 0.348  0.897 0.258  Employment domain Working vs. not working >32 hours a week (Between) 1.060 0.138 1.001 0.983  Starting to work >32 hours a week (Within) 0.975 0.723  0.871 0.194  Relationship domain In a relationship vs. single (Between) 1.122 0.054+ 1.063 0.449  Engaging in an intimate relationship (Within) 0.909 0.168  0.903 0.367  Civil/Marital domain Cohabiting/married vs. not cohabiting/not married (Between) 0.931 0.275 0.955 0.593  Starting to cohabit/getting married (Within) 0.965 0.626 0.927 0.519  Parenthood domain Parent vs. non-parent (Between) 0.900 0.017* 0.823 0.001** Becoming a parent (Within) 0.819 0.014* 0.792 0.052+ Controls Female 0.783 0.807 Immigrant 0.894 0.887 0.002** Age Age: Being older (Between) 0.999 0.685 1.004 0.197  Aging: Getting older (Within) 0.816 1.020 0.011* Intercept 3.624 14.601 -41,2% -40,3% +12,2% -10,0% -17,7% -18,1% -20,8%

Results Switching from a club setting to another (non) organisational setting Setting @ Wave 2 = Club (did not switch) Commercial (e.g. health/ fitness centre, gym) Group (light community/ informal) Individual (alone) Not practising sport anymore (young) adults who:   practised sport mostly in a club setting @ wave 1 (100%; N=522) 52,7% 15,7% 12,3% 14,0% 5,4% And (between wave 1 and 2): left fulltime education (15,3%; N=80) 51,3% 10,0% 15,0% 17,5% 6,3% started working (>32 hours a week) (9,8%; N=51) 64,7% 11,8% 2,0% 13,7% 7,8% engaged in intimate relationship (13,2%; N=69) 44,9% 17,4% 10,1% 18,8% 8,7% started cohabiting/got married (14,2%; N=74) 9,5% 16,2% 14,9% 6,8% became a parent (7,3%; N=38) 55,3% 7,9% 15,8% 13,2%

Results Switching from practising sport (mostly) in a club setting to: Commercial (e.g. health/ fitness centre, gym) Group (light community/ informal) Individual (alone) Not practising sport anymore  (N=522) Exp(B) sig. Major life eventsc   Educational domain Continued fulltime education ref. Left fulltime education 0.537 0.254 1.921 0.179  2.084 0.182  0.823 0.812  Already left fulltime education at wave 1 1.016 0.978 1.241 0.733  0.855 0.813  0.257 0.171  Employment domain Not working (>32 hours a week) Started working (>32 hours a week) 0.739 0.586 0.066 0.010* 0.520 0.225  1.515 0.569 Continued working (>32 hours a week) 0.798 0.584 0.440 0.065+ 1.035 0.936  1.039 0.954  Relationship domain Stayed single Engaged in an intimate relationship 2.102 0.129 0.625 0.479  3.657 0.015* 2.031 0.431  Continued an intimate relationship 1.099 0.863 0.501 0.319  1.765 0.324  0.140 0.147 Civil/marital domain Not cohabiting/married Started cohabiting/got married 0.512 0.252 2.668 0.154 0.696 0.504  2.225 0.397  Continued cohabitation/marriage 0.779 0.679 2.645 0.212  0.908 0.874  6.092 0.192  Parenthood domain Stayed childless Became a parent 0.508 0.339 1.168 0.796  0.743  3.124 0.186  Already a parent at wave 1 0.825 0.671 0.809 0.700  0.168  1.553 0.586  Controls Female 2.514 0.003** 1.073 0.841  1.537 0.204  1.909 0.213  Immigrant 2.375 0.002** 0.982 0.956  0.710 0.320  1.521 0.353  age (wave 1) 1.006 0.833 0.990 0.739  1.046 0.096+ 1.045 0.293  Educational level (highest) 0.954 0.353 0.926 0.169  0.943 0.254  0.899 0.188 Number of sports (wave 1) 0.935 0.417 0.592 0.955  0.898 0.212 0.664 0.013* Intercept 0.361 0.312  1.057 0.961  0.128 0.051+ 0.285 0.428 -93,4% -56,0% +276,9%

Conclusion Major life events can affect sport participation during the transition to adulthood To promote sport participation and prevent dropout during the transition to adulthood, it is important that sport providers, programs and policies respond to the specific needs and resources/restrictions related to the occurrence of major life events that mark this transition. Further research could focus on those specific needs and resources/restrictions

Conclusion To prevent this from happening

Thanks! Questions? J.vanHouten@maw.ru.nl researchgate.net/profile/Jasper_Houten linkedin.com/in/jaspervanhouten Thanks! Questions?