Participation in organized sports activities is linked with positive developmental outcomes for youth. However, the literature consistently shows that immigrant youth are less likely to participate in organized sports compared to their native counterparts. Thus, they are at risk for missing of the positive benefits of sports. The aim of this study was to investigate why immigrant youth are less likely to participate in organized sports activities compared to their native counterparts. The data come from self-reports from 679 students in 7th grade. Immigrant youth were less likely (57%) to participate in organized sports activities compared to native youth (73%). Further, parents’ engagement in sports and fathers’ employment status significantly predict Nordic youths’ sports involvement (p < .05). For immigrant youth, only fathers’ employment status did (p < .05). These finding support Eccles’ expectancy-value model, which states that parents as role-models can influence youths’ participation in organized sports activities. However, this seems to only be the case for native youth.
Additional analysis will be run in order to find out other predictors that might explain the low rates of sports involvement of immigrant youth. The findings will supplement the scarce literature on immigrant youths’ low engagement in organized sports activities.
The title of the presentation in "6th ENSEC Conference. Programme & Information" is "The association between parental physical activity and youth sports participation. Differences and similarities between immigrant and Swedish youth".