Factors relating to sophomore high school girl's participation in high school athletics

The purpose of this study was to explore the factors relating to sophomore high school girls' participation in high school athletics. A theoretical model was developed using the Kenyon-McPherson model of socialization as a basis. Subjects utilized in this study included 293 sophomore female high school students who were grouped as athletes, former athletes and non-participants according to their responses on the Participation Questionnaire that was administered to determine the factors related to their athletic participation in high school. The subjects were selected from four high schools in the district studied. A two-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was employed to determine if there was a significant difference among schools or groups with respect to factors that influence a sophomore high school girl's participation in athletics. A significant main effect was found for schools and for groups but the interaction of schools X groups was non-significant. High School 1 was found to be noticeably different from the other three high schools. In a comparison of the Athletic Group with the Non-participant Group, parental experience in athletics differentiated the two groups. The degree of parental valuing of the subject's participation in athletics seemed to be an important contributor to the athlete's participation in athletics. The participation patterns and attitudes of peers did not seem to relate to the subject's athletic participation. [...]