Mathieu Bélanger -SRG 2010
Beauchamp, J., Sabaston, C., Richard, J.F.
Français
Although a majority of Canadian adolescents are physically inactive, there are some who maintain a high level of involvement in sports and others who initiate such activities. A better understanding of when and why physical activity declines during adolescence is needed to guide the development of effective interventions to increase and then maintain physical activity levels of the population. This research program will 1) map the periods when youth initiate and drop out from specific physical activities; 2) identify factors motivating participation in specific physical activities at different periods during adolescence; and 3) identify factors contributing to interrupting or sustaining participation in specific physical activities.
The objectives will be pursued using a prospective cohort study design. Participation in specific physical activities will be measured three times per year throughout adolescence. Motives for participating or not participating in different physical activities will be explored in interviews. Participants followed up with yearly interviews will be selected in the first year of study to represent participants in a variety of physical activities. Analyseses will be stratified according to various forms of activities (ie.: specific sport, or grouping of physical activities sharing similar attributes such as team sports, individual sports, or sports of comparable intensity). In addition, students who initially had low physical activity levels but became more physically active will be interviewed.
This information will be useful for the development of policies and programs aiming at enhancing participation in sport. Sport associations will have information enabling them to target interventions to promote recruitment and retention of appropriate age groups. The design of these interventions will also be improved because of the detailed information we will provide on the factors influencing maintenance, initiation, and discontinuation of participation specific to a variety of sports.
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