I: Introduction to Sport Culture and Youth Development
In United States, there is a culture of sports which is highly regarded in society. Sports impact an array of people from various backgrounds, whether it be through participation or the supporting of one’s favorite team. Millions of people at all age levels participate in sports therefore, there must be resulting societal impacts that can be contributed or derived from sport culture. It has been long thought that are beneficial for those participating. Individuals, especially youth organizations were created on the notion that participation in sports teaches core values including: leadership, integrity, determination, and hard work. These values and characteristics are believed to equip student athletes for life after graduation. However, with all of positive research regarding benefits of participation, there is a negative side which explores the correlation between violence and sport participation.
With the diverse research results, it is evident that participation in sports does not purely have positive impacts. Since all sports are not the same, it is logical to assume that the effects of a sport vary by the type of activity it is. For example, an individual sport such as tennis, most likely teaches one different values than a team sport like football. Other variants may include the intensity level of the team, for instance varsity or club, and also the physical and time commitments along with potential leadership positions embedded in the activity. Furthermore, my study aims to examine how participation in high school sports is associated with post graduate success. More specifically I will consider how participation, with an emphasis in the distinction between sport types, relates to outcomes such as prestige in the workplace and early adulthood income. The data resulting from these proposals may greater illustrate the risk/reward analysis of each sport. In other words, if the data reflects that a violent sport, football, to not offer as many benefits as a non-violent sport, golf, then there are fewer incentives to participate in the violent sport.
My intentions are to use two primary data sources as relates to my research design. The first being survey data from a study of youth development to display the tendencies that arise from sport participation and the variance between sport participation for both aforementioned outcomes. The survey method allows me to receive large amounts of quantitative data to quickly recognize if there are any clear trends that exists in the study. From the survey data, I will be able to answer questions about the measurable effects of sports participation in the short term and also analyze whether the positive and negative outcomes are equivalent.
With the second research design, I will conduct interviews with a sample of both male and female individuals who indicated they were participants in high school sports. The purpose being to understand the instruments through which sport participation is related to post graduation work tendencies. The importance of the interviews will greatly increase if there are no significant statistics with respect to the quantitative survey data. If this were to occur, the addition of an interview may offer further understanding as to why the research did not indicate anything significant. Moreover, with the mixed-method approach of surveys and in-depth interviews, I am exposed to both qualitative and quantitative sources and will be able to further my understanding of outcomes related to sport participation.
II: Contextualizing Potential Outcomes and Effects
Previous research in this area has investigated the relationship between the sport involvement of children and the education level of their parents (Famaey-Lamon and Cardon 1979), the relationship between socio-economic status of family adolescent student sport participation (Nezhad 2012; Rahmati 2012, Nezhad 2012), and the personality characteristics of athletes’ while comparing individual against team sports (Nia and Besharat 2010). There have been many documented correlates of youth sports participation. Whether the correlates are positive or negative is contextual to the sport. By analyzing the correlates, I will be able to understand behaviors and consequents of participation and build upon prior knowledge related to early adult income as well as workplace authority. The specific categories of outcomes I will focus on consist of health and safety risks, social benefits, and social obstructions.
First, I will address the health benefits and safety risks linked to sport participation including reduced risk of health-related diseases, and increased fitness. In addition, from engaging in sports, one is likely to experience a greater self-confidence with improved mental health compared to non-athletes. Moreover, studies indicate that athlete’s mean scores for personality characteristics of extraversion and conscientiousness are higher and for neuroticism are lower for athletes than the mean scores of non-athletes (Nia and Besharat 2010). Conversely, the negative aspect of participating in sports is that they are found with a higher rate of eating disorders for male and female (Baum 2006). Second, there are undisputed social benefits attributed to those who participate in sport with the largest being educational achievement. This idea is prevalent in Rehberg and Schafer’s study showing that athletes, contrary to the “dumb jock” stereotype, are more apt to perform better academically that non-athletes. Another social benefit is the connection existing between community volunteering and sports participation. The third and final category being social obstructions relates to the negative aspect that potentially coincide with individuals participating in sports. The most rampant behavior being alcohol and drug use, violence, and criminal behavior. This category of outcomes is highly contextual because there are studies that deduced that athletes partake in more fighting, however this conclusion was only representative of contact sports such as football and wrestling. A contrasting study finds that sports that are non-contact, tennis and golf etc., reduce the chance of fighting compared to non-athletes (Skille 2005). This is crucial information that indicates that different sports affect individuals differently thus, when conducting research, one must be aware of the contextual nature of sport types. Moreover, the results of past research indicate various conclusions regarding abuse of drugs and alcohol. They show that in certain circumstances, participation in sports is a deterrent to drugs however, other research suggests that athletes have an increase of alcohol and drug consumption compared to non-athletes.
While considering early adulthood income and prestige in the workplace, it is paramount to consider the role that participation is sports presents. A former study introduces the progressive correlation between salary and sports participation (Famaey-Lamon and Cardon 1979). The flaw within this research is that it solely considered men. Therefore, the study is not a true stratified random sample. With the research that I propose, I would ensure that from the population of athletes in high school, there would be a true representative sample of both male and females. With regard to prestige or authority in one’s career, there is no explicit information that proves or disproves the correlation. Thus, when implementing research strategies, I will have to look at different aspects of those who have authority position in their career. One of these aspects may include common characteristics of those individuals and if these characteristics are present both in athletes and non-athletes. A well-structured survey would provide myself with the necessary information that would be useful in evaluating my study. It is important to remember that these examples are all presented in order to display why and how I chose the research methods that I did. The categories that were considered are correlates to sports participation and therefore are valuable tools when attempting to discover what factors into individuals in high school’s character development. With the understanding of past research, I will be able to condense this information and apply the results into my interview guide and survey questioning processes.
III: Data Measurement and Methods
This section will provide a descriptive narrative pursuing the measurements of data and methods that will be used in my study. As previously stated, I intend to analyze how sports participation, acknowledging the distinction between sport types, relates to outcomes such as prestige in the workplace and early adulthood income by administering a survey to a subset of individuals. To supplement this quantitative data, I will also manage a sequence of interviews with a subdivision of the individuals who completed the survey. This will not be completely random because, as the literature showed, different sports affect individuals differently. Therefore, I will opt to a stratified sample to distinguish various subgroups in athletics including but not limited to: level of contact, individual vs team, and gender dynamics.
YDS Survey
Rather than creating my own survey, I will be administering a survey that has already been created. This survey comes from the Youth Development Study (i.e., YDS) that is involved in high school sports in the timeframe from 1988-1992. The YDS information comes from Jeylan T. Mortimer who is a professor of sociology and director of the youth development study at the University of Minnesota. The YDS has been published in an array how documents with the most relating being when Professor Mortimer approaches the research question of how youth development in sports relates to gendered occupational outcomes (Mortimer 2013). Thus, it is clear that the information regarding youth development is useful for my study even though I am not focusing on the same task. Being that I am using secondary source data, it is my responsibility to attribute all information regarding YDS to the directors and researchers who contributed to the publishing. Not only is this ethically correct, it is a professional responsibility and a sign of respect and adulation towards those who provided myself with their data.
In 1987, there was a random sample of ninth graders in the St. Paul public school system that were asked to participate in the Youth Development Study. Since I am dealing with individuals who are minors, ethically, it is crucial to received informed consent not only from the individuals themselves, however a parent or guardian must also consent to the study. There were a sum of 1,139 parent and children, out of approximately 1,800 that were invited, that agreed to be involved in the YDS with 1,105 responding to the surveys within the first year (Mortimer 2003). To be considered eligible for the sample, one must be enrolled in the school district and not have any physical disability that hinders the ability to fill out the survey alone. The initial survey participants were a representative sample of the total population of ninths graders who were enrolled in public schools. One exception to make note of is that the original sample consisted of 1,010 non-Hmong and 129 Hmong individuals. The Hmong immigrant group arrived in the St. Paul area around the same time the study began and with limited English skills, the research procedures were separate from those used for the remainder of the sample. Consequentially, the data between the Hmong and non-Hmong population are not comparable resulting in the removal of them from this study (Mortimer 2003).
Addressing the reliability of this survey data, the consistency of this concept that is present clear and sufficient at the least. From the initial testing time in 1988, the respondents have been surveyed annually, showing 18 different time points of data collection as of 2009. This process exemplifies the test-retest reliability method which aims to combat potential maturity and reactivity problems that may arise. Being that the primary concern of validity is consistency, the YDS survey data vehemently elucidates this notion. Observing the validity, it does seem to be that the survey is exhaustive as a result of the continuance of the research. As well was the empirical criterion, in which numerous studies have used this data as a tangent for their own data or to reiterate the main idea that it encompasses. To ensure that I receive the information quickly, the survey will be structed in that it will have pre-determined questions that will be asked in the exact same way. I believe this would offer greater results as compared to an ethnosurvey because, with the annual testing’s, it would be very difficult and time consuming to administer the question as an interview. With this, I must be aware of the potential discrepancies in the understanding of questions. Thus, I will establish the questions with this in mind. The reason why am intending to replicate the YDS survey as opposed to creating my own is that the data relating to youth development, especially regarding sports participation, is directly applicable to my study. In addition, the ability to assure validity and reliability with 18 different time points of data testing offers an unparalleled confidence in the study.
In-Depth Interviews
As has been noted, to add to the YDS survey data, I will conduct interviews with subcategory of those who completed the survey. I intend to conduct approximately 15-20 interviews with an equal representation of gender with diverging athletic history. To identify potential candidates, I will analyze the quantitative data gathered from the survey and invite those individuals that I deem fit. In the situation where I am declined by several interviews, I will continue analyzing the data and finding different individuals until my desired number or information is achieved. To ensure the safety of the interviewee, I would present a comfortable location where we would meet and would stress that I am the only person that has the ability to observe their information. In addition, I would inform them that their data and information would be held in a secure encrypted form and once published, the individuals would be anonymous.
Interviewing these respondents is necessary for the reason that they will provide a greater sense for the patterns that are present form the YDS data which will indicate the potentially corollary nature between participation in sports and the aforementioned resulting outcomes. Even if it be the case that the survey data does not indicate any significant patterns, then the interviews will provide insight as to why this relationship is not present. The interview guide that I propose centers around a few core themes such as experiences in sports, work experiences, and outcomes that follow. Categories such as these offer the interviewee to express what values they believe sports have given them and the impact of it on their lives. It also gives them the chance to reflect on how engagement in sports could contribute to the correlates of participation that were previously mentioned.
Following, I will delve deeper into the substance of my interview guide with the core themes as an outline. Under the subset of experiences in sports, I will begin with a general question asking them to explain their involvement/relationship with sports during high school, specifically what type of sports, what level of activity, and how many they were involved in. While they are describing their relationship with sports, I will steer them towards explaining if they enjoyed the experience or not and if they continue to play sports. Next, I will begin to ask loose, open-ended questions that relate to potential outcomes that resulted from their participation in sports. These questions include: “How important have sports been in your life?”, “Do you believe you could have gotten the same experiences from other activities?”, “What effect do you think sports have had on your mental health?”, “What values or teachings has sports given to you, if any?”, and “Do you believe that playing in sports in high school has given you greater job opportunities than someone who has never played a sport?”. Depending on the answers given, I am prepared to rebuttal their answer with a follow up question that inquires further than the original question. These responses will be used to further analyze the factors tested with the YDS survey. Finally, I will address the last core theme which is work experiences. These questions will examine what work experience they have and what positions they currently hold. Such questions could consist of: “What does your job entail?”, “How has your position shifted as your time their increased?”, and “What actions or experiences do you believe largely contributed to your monetary earnings, prestige in the workplace, and career sector.
Variables and Limitations
There is a plethora of external factors that may contribute to the understanding of link between sports participation and early adult income with workplace prestige. With so many contributing factors, there are bound to be limitations with a study. One factor that could potentially skew results is associated with the YDS survey. This flaw is that the study only considered those in the St. Paul public school district. This may indicate a lack of diversity in socioeconomic status and different variables such as how growing up in a city is different form growing up in the suburbs. The experiences that one has can drastically differ depending on the community in which they were brought up in.
Furthermore, the method to how measurement of critical variable is evaluated is crucial because one must be consistent. Once the individuals reach the age of 25 I will begin to evaluate the data and draw conclusion from the measurements. The way in which I will measure prestige in the workplace is through the coding of responses to the survey question, “Do you supervise other workers at your primary job?” (Mortimer 2003). Through this I will be able to recognize the statistical pattern from the notion that athletes are more likely to possess an authority role. Equally important, the way I will evaluate early income and earnings is through the YDS when individuals are required to report their income within the past two weeks. Something to consider for this measure, is that there is no distinction made between various sports. To measure the distinction between volume and type of sport, I will first split individuals into categories based on the level of participation (e.g., varsity or intramural) and compare those to each other. This distinction could assist in determining what factors of participation are valuable to our core question. In other words, it could show that the organization and structure of sports offers the greatest benefit, not the dedication and effort that comes with varsity sports. Moreover, other categories to be considered are violent versus non-violent sports and individual versus team sports. To evaluate the volume of an individual’s participation in sports, I will index the amount of different sports that participants indicated in the survey. Lastly, to account for the participants early life outcomes, will evaluate the indications of quality of participation including indifferent, positive, and negative experiences.
IV: Conclusion
Throughout my study and research proposal I have continually alluded to the core question that I am attempting to research which is, how participation in sports, with an emphasis in the distinction between sport types, relates to outcomes such as prestige in the workplace and early adulthood income. With the plan that I have given, and the assumption that I will be given resources to assist me in my study, I believe that I could find significant data through the YDS survey and the in-depth interviews that would give me the information that I need to answer the question. There is not one thing that effects one’s workplace success or early adulthood income however, I would set out to prove that a correlation exists between sports participation and previously mentioned outcomes. This would be done through the evaluative process of the social benefits, potential health and safety risks, and also social obstructions all of which I have consider. Therefore, with my current understanding of the contributing correlates, I am confident that I will have success with my study.