Sport and physical activity across the lifespan: “Sports Trajectory Questionnaire”

Abstract

Activity and participation in sport have garnered a great deal of attention over the past few decades, due in part to growing awareness of the benefits they offer that lead to a better quality of life. This situation has opened up new lines of investigation in the sport sciences field, including the study of physical activity and sport participation according to the perspective of Lifespan Developmental Psychology, the approach that underlies this study. The aim of this research is (1) to design an instrument to collect information on individuals’ lifelong relationships with sport and physical activity (2) to implement the instrument through a pilot test to create profiles that can be compared with other variables, all in order to study the role that physical activity and sport participation play in a range of aspects throughout the lifespan. The results indicate the questionnaire was effective and capable of collecting data on the physical and sport activities of the members of the sample at different moments in the lifespan. It was also able to generate profiles that can be used to analyze the variables of participation in sport and/or physical activity in conjunction with other variable, thus offering a way  to measure the impact of physical activity on human development. Keywords: Sports trajectories; lifespan; physical activity questionnaire; physical activity profiles