Abstract
Background:
Early, intensive sports specialization has been positioned as a potentially harmful pattern of participation for developing youth athletes; however, it remains largely unknown how youth sport families decide if and when an athlete will specialize. Areas lacking in the literature include exploration of the prevalence of specialization for elementary-school-aged athletes and in the community-based recreational context, current and prospective experiences of sport families, and comparisons between stakeholder groups regarding their perceptions of sport specialization.
Purpose:
To explore and compare early youth sport parent-athlete dyads’ perceived sport participation characteristics, attitudes, and experiences related to youth sport specialization.
Methods:
Youth sport parents and athletes completed a sport participation survey designed to examine 1) Demographic characteristics of the youth sport family and their context; 2) Characteristics of the youth athlete’s current (ie, degree of specialization) and planned sport participation pathway (ie, if and when they plan to specialize); 3) Perceptions of the athletes’ sport experience, with an emphasis on sport specialization. Descriptive analyses were conducted for demographic and sport participation characteristics, and paired-samples t-tests were conducted to compare sport-related attitudes and perceptions of sport specialization in matched parent-athlete dyads (p≤.05).
Results:
Ninety-six total participants (48 parent-athlete dyads; 66.7% of athletes (n=32) were male) from a single community-based early youth sport program completed the sport participation survey. 85.4% (n=72) of total participants rated the athlete’s current degree of specialization as low or not at all, though participants more commonly anticipated specializing in middle school (48.9%; n=44) and high school (52.2%; n=47). In comparing the parent-athlete dyads, these groups did not significantly differ in their perceptions of sport specialization, perceived pathway enjoyment, or their plans to specialize in the future. However, athletes were significantly more likely to identify as currently specialized (p<.01), perceive a higher degree of current specialization (p=.047), and rate themselves as more burned out (p<.01) than their parents.
Conclusion:
These findings indicate that parents and athletes generally possess similar attitudes toward sport specialization and perceptions of athletes’ sport experiences during their early youth participation. While youth sport families are not commonly engaging in specialization during these elementary school years, many plan an eventual sport pathway for their athlete that involves specializing in a main sport. Lastly, it appears that even at an early age, athletes may perceive their sport experience as more specialized and more taxing than their parents, highlighting the need for open communication and understanding within these dyads.
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