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Title Psychosocial factors that influence female sport participation in secondary schools
Full text http://hdl.handle.net/10210/789
Date 2008
Author(s) Xhakaza, Eileen
Abstract Females continue to be poorly represented in sport as participants, coaches, advisers and as team administrators and are seldom seen in the capacity as managers of different sporting codes. This study sets out to determine the different psychosocial factors that influence female sport participation in the high school milieu. This study will provide knowledge that will aid the understanding of the phenomenon of participation and non-participation of high school girls. After studying available literature on the subject, several factors were identified as influential determinants of whether girls decide to participate or not to participate in sport. The following factors were identified: financial benefits; family support; career opportunities; stereotypes about female sport participation; physiological nature of females; self-esteem; ability; motivation; competitions; need for recognition; coaching preferences and how well females get the recognition over their male counterparts. The study was motivated by the realization that females in South Africa are generally poorly represented in the world of sport. This poor representation becomes more evident when the girls enter the senior secondary classes. Educational Institutions should maintain the spirit of sport participation and by so doing generate sport participation by women as a life long skill. A questionnaire, based on the literature review, was designed to gather information on the psychosocial reasons why high school girls participate or do not participate in sport. After a pilot study was done, the questionnaire was distributed to three former model C high schools in the southern regions of Johannesburg. The High School Personality Questionnaire (H.S.P.Q.) was the instrument used to compare personality factors between the two groups. A total of 266 girls (grades ten to twelve) were included in this study. The results indicated that various psychosocial factors influence female sport participation. Only a few girls (n=98) in the sample participated in sport while most girls (n=168) did not. The reasons why girls seemed to participate in sport included the fact that they enjoy sport, wanting a healthy life style, and they also enjoy the competition. The reasons why girls did not participate include the need to pay attention to academic commitments, lack of motivation, pressure and the competitive nature of the world of sport. Awareness of the influence of and negative impact of these psychosocial factors can help sport psychologists, sport educators, coaches, administrators, sport organisations and the government to develop programmes/systems that will promote female participation in sport. - Mr. R.L. Van Niekerk
Subject(s) Sports for women in South Africa; Women athletes in South Africa; Sports and state in South Africa
Language en
Type of publication Mini-Dissertation
Repository Johannesburg - University of Johannesburg
Added to C-A: 2008-12-22;03:50:11