This study examined the influence of grade, gender, and family income on youth sport participation and their impact on MVPA of youth in rural communities. While there were no significant impacts of grade on youth sport participation, there were significant impacts of grade on PA—with the level of average daily minutes of MVPA lowering by grade with the sharpest drop of over 12 minutes per day from 5th grade to 6th grade. In a 1996 study of youth sport trends from around the world, there was a steady decline in youth sport participation in Finland starting at age nine and moving through to adulthood (29). Declines in youth sport participation as youth age in the U.S. may be explained by the competitive and exclusionary nature of both school and club sports that often starts around adolescence (42). Our study does not show a significant decline in youth sport participation by grade among rural 3rd -6th graders, but a lower level of MVPA, which may indicate that time actually being physically active is lacking in in-school or out-of-school settings that include youth sport (e.g., recess, physical education, out-of-school clubs). A study of the contribution of youth sport to PA among boys aged 6–12 years found that youth sport contributed to 23% of their daily MVPA (23), so YSP would seem to make a positive impact on daily MVPA. Perhaps also the quantity of active minutes of PA during youth sport is declining as youth get older. Similar to our findings, a 2005 review of evidence for trends in youth PA behaviors found a worldwide decline in children’s aerobic performance between 1995 and 2005 (13). A 2019 study found a decline in children’s cardiorespiratory fitness in high and upper middle-income countries between 1981 and 2014 (43). Studies that examine the quantity and quality of youth PA during youth sport in a variety of settings, in both urban and rural communities, may shed light on the contextual factors that explain declines in MVPA as youth age.
Gender was not significantly associated with youth sport participation, but had a significant impact on MVPA, with males in our study averaging almost 25 more minutes of activity per day. This finding is consistent with past self-report and objective measure studies showing variations in PA by gender, with boys engaging in more MVPA than girls (1, 32, 33). We did, however, find an interaction between gender and family income on MVPA. Males with a full pay lunch status were significantly more active than males with a free/reduced status. Our findings show that the opposite was true for females. Free/reduced lunch status females were more active than full pay lunch status females. Interestingly, we do not see an interaction effect between gender, lunch status, and youth sport participation for males or females, so youth sport participation may not be the opportunity that explains these interactions. Nonetheless, given the significantly lower levels of MVPA reported by girls in our study, targeted interventions may be needed across in-school and out-of-school settings that help to increase PA among girls. Past research has shown that girls’ participation in sport declines after adolescence (29), and our study included girls only through the 6th grade. Youth sport programs that aim to include girls post-adolescence and that are tailored to keep them motivated to participate may have an impact on girls’ MVPA over time.
We found that family income had a significant effect on youth sport participation, with higher incomes predicting almost four times higher youth sport participation. This finding aligns with prior research on socioeconomic status and participation (12, 34, 35). Though this effect in rural settings may not be as apparent as previous research suggests, with eighty percent of the youth in our study reporting participating in youth sport within the past year (6). Family income did not have a significant impact on MVPA, but those youth who participated in sports had significantly greater MVPA, by approximately seven minutes more per day. Perhaps, therefore, the impact of family income on MVPA is mediated by youth sport participation. The impact of family income on MVPA was also dependent grade. Unexpectedly, we observed a drop in levels of MVPA by grade that was more apparent with students that were full pay lunch status than those that were free/reduced lunch status. Perhaps a decline in PA by age and income is less realized in rural communities where, especially in elementary school, there is a need for teams to fill their rosters and therefore be more inclusive. Reducing costs and barriers to participate in youth sport, though, could enable youth from all income levels to be more physically active as they move out of elementary school into junior high and high school when distance and transportation become factors (36).
Past strategies for improving children’s PA behaviors have focused on schools as the lead coordinating institution for implementation, but more recently the 2013 Physical Activity Guidelines Midcourse Report called for a focus on other settings (14, 44). We found very little difference in in- school MVPA between those who participated in youth sport and those that did not, but we found that youth participating in youth sport had six minutes more per day of out-of-school MVPA. This finding suggests that schools may not be the only setting in rural communities where we should focus our attention. Rural communities may see significantly more impact on youth PA with improved youth sport delivery implemented through community collaborations. Other possible coordinating institutions within rural communities include parks and recreation agencies and libraries, and stakeholders from these organizations may be better aligned to increase youth sport participation through local interventions.
Limitations
This study is not without limitations. Our sample was limited to two communities, but these communities were selected as representative of rural Great Plains communities that lack racial and ethnic diversity. The next wave of the Wellscapes Project will recruit representative rural Great Plains communities with a concentration of Hispanic-Latino youth. Future research should investigate the impact of race and ethnicity on youth sport participation and other opportunities to be active and MVPA within a rural context, as these are important considerations in assessing the accessibility of programs and their impact on health outcomes. Youth PA was self-reported and may not as accurately reflect MVPA as well as objective measures like accelerometry and observation, though the YAP is a tool that has been extensively validated and captures self-report data as accurately as possible. In fact, group level estimates from the YAP in a preliminary calibration study were statistically equal to the SenseWear Armband Pro3 PA monitor (39).