Prediction of Present Participation from Children’s Gender, Past Participation, and Attitudes: A Longitudinal Analysis

Abstract

This investigation examined the change in children’s participation and attitudes toward sport team involvement from late elementary school to the beginning of high school. A questionnaire designed to measure importance of rewards was given to all 5th and 6th graders (n = 238) from a community with an extensive sports program. Five years later, as 10th and 11th graders, 166 (71%) of the original group participated in the follow-up study. Factor analysis extracted two consistent factors at both questionnaire administrations. One was labeled “extrinsic reward” while the other was labeled “intrinsic satisfaction.” A logit analysis using weighted least squares indicated that past participation and gender as well as the interaction of the importance given to the two reward systems contributed significantly to predicting present participation. An additional model including present value given to reward systems suggested that present value for intrinsic satisfaction might improve prediction of present participation.