Department of Psychology, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2012;7(11):e49168. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0049168. Epub 2012 Nov 14.
Much evidence indicates that men experienced an evolutionary history of physical competition, both one-on-one and in coalitions. We thus hypothesized that, compared to girls and women, boys and men will possess a greater motivational predisposition to be interested in sports, especially team sports. According to most scholars, advocacy groups, and the United States courts, however, this hypothesis is challenged by modest sex differences in organized school sports participation in the contemporary U.S., where females comprise 42% of high school participants and 43% of intercollegiate participants. We conducted three studies to test whether organized school sports participation data underestimate the actual sex difference in sports participation. Study 1 analyzed the American Time Use Survey, which interviewed 112,000 individuals regarding their activities during one day. Females accounted for 51% of exercise (i.e., non-competitive) participations, 24% of total sports participations, and 20% of team sports participations. These sex differences were similar for older and younger age groups. Study 2 was based on systematic observations of sports and exercise at 41 public parks in four states. Females accounted for 37% of exercise participations, 19% of individual sports participations, and 10% of team sports participations. Study 3 involved surveying colleges and universities about intramural sports, which primarily consist of undergraduate participation in team sports. Across 34 institutions, females accounted for 26% of registrations. Nine institutions provided historical data, and these did not indicate that the sex difference is diminishing. Therefore, although efforts to ensure more equitable access to sports in the U.S. (i.e., Title IX) have produced many benefits, patterns of sports participation do not challenge the hypothesis of a large sex difference in interest and participation in physical competition.
大量证据表明，男性在进化过程中经历了身体竞争，包括一对一和联合竞争。因此，我们假设与女孩和女性相比，男孩和男性会更有动力对运动，尤其是团队运动感兴趣。然而，根据大多数学者、倡导团体和美国法院的说法，这个假设受到当代美国有组织的学校体育参与中性别差异较小的挑战，在当代美国，女性占高中参与者的 42%，占大学生参与者的 43%。我们进行了三项研究来测试有组织的学校体育参与数据是否低估了实际的性别差异。第一项研究分析了美国时间使用调查，该调查采访了 112000 个人关于他们在一天中的活动。女性占锻炼（即非竞争性）参与的 51%，占总体育参与的 24%，占团队体育参与的 20%。这些性别差异在年龄较大和较小的群体中相似。第二项研究基于对四个州的 41 个公共公园的体育和锻炼的系统观察。女性占锻炼参与的 37%，个人运动参与的 19%，团队运动参与的 10%。第三项研究涉及对 34 所学院和大学的校内体育调查，这些体育主要由本科生参与团队运动组成。在 34 个机构中，女性占注册人数的 26%。有 9 个机构提供了历史数据，这些数据并没有表明性别差异正在缩小。因此，尽管美国（即《第九条》）为确保更公平地获得体育机会做出了许多努力，产生了许多好处，但体育参与模式并没有挑战男性对身体竞争的兴趣和参与的性别差异很大的假设。
