The influence of sports life career during adolescence on sports participation in adulthood: As mediation to awareness and attitude toward sport

Engaging in sports during adolescence contributes immensely to the formation of consciousness and attitudes that encourage sports participation in adulthood. However, previous studies of this issue have not clearly considered the types of sport pursued during adolescence that affect sports participation in adulthood. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between sports participation in adulthood and sports life career (SLC) based on gender differences. SLC is regarded as the combination and sequence of sports experience. In this study, SLC was limited to sports participation and focused on 3 viewpoints: place/opportunity, sports orientation, and number of sports. A questionnaire survey was conducted and the data were obtained from a sample of 1,063 men and women ranging in age from their 30s to 50s. The main results of the analysis are provided below. 1. There was a significant relationship between place/opportunity in adolescence and sports participation in adulthood at each level of education for both men and women. In particular, the factor most relevant to “sports participation in adulthood” was “extracurricular sports activities and other activities”, followed by “activities other than extracurricular sports activities”, and “extracurricular sports activities”. Additionally, diversity of place/opportunity during adolescence was commensurate with consciousness/attitude toward sports as well as with sports participation in adulthood for men. 2. Sports orientation in adolescence and sports participation in adulthood were unrelated at each level of education, regardless of gender differences. In addition, for both men and women, the diversity of sports orientation in adolescence, sports participation in adulthood, and consciousness/attitude toward sports had no effect on one another. However, the diversity of sports orientation in adolescence was positively correlated with other SLC viewpoints such as place/opportunity and number of sports. 3. Regarding the number of sports at each level of education, multiple sports showed a higher value than single sports, irrespective of gender differences. In addition, it was clear that the number of sports pursued in adolescence was directly proportional to subsequent consciousness/attitude toward sports and the promotion of sports participation in adulthood for men. The present findings suggest that a diverse sports life in adolescence is related to sports participation