Youth Perspectives on What Makes a Sports Club a Health-Promoting Setting—Viewed through a Salutogenic Settings-Based Lens

• Main Authors: Susanna Geidne, Mikael Quennerstedt
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-07-01
• Series: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Subjects: organized sports; participation; HPSC; salutogenesis; drop-out
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7704
• ISSN: 1661-7827; 1660-4601

Sports participation has the potential to contribute to young people’s health. A prerequisite for young people to benefit from sports is that they stay in sports. Studies that consider both personal and contextual factors are needed to unpack the broader health-promoting potential of youth sports. The purpose of the study is to contribute to knowledge about the health-promoting potential of young people’s participation in organized sports by exploring youth perspectives on what makes a sports club health-promoting with a focus on health resources that young people consider important for sports club participation. For this cross-sectional study a brief survey was conducted with 15–16 year old students (<i>n</i> = 123) at two schools in Sweden, asking three open-ended questions about their participation in sports. The study used a salutogenic theory-driven analysis in combination with statistical analysis. Five health resources that young people consider important for sports club participation are revealed. On an individual, more ‘swimmer’-related level, these are personal well-being and social relations, including relationally meaningful activities, and on an organizational level, relating to the ‘river’, that sports clubs offer a supportive and well-functioning environment. For sports clubs to be health-promoting settings for young people and thus hopefully to reduce drop-out, we need a more sustainable approach emphasizing drop-in, <i>drop-through</i>, and drop-over as a continuous iterative process. We also need to consider the complexity of sports participation for young people, involving individual, organizational and environmental issues.