Carnegie School of Sport, Centre for Active Lifestyles, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK.
BMC Public Health. 2018 Sep 26;18(1):1142. doi: 10.1186/s12889-018-6049-6.
Implementation profoundly influences how well new audiences engage with sport-based physical activity programmes. Recognising that effective implementation relies on concurrently generating supportive contexts, systems and networks for the least engaged 'target' groups; this paper aims to address what underpins children's (non) engagement with football-based physical activity.
An observational research design, using a non-probability sample of N = 594 primary and secondary schoolchildren assessed outcomes of a three-year 'City of Football' (CoF) programme. Pupils self-reported football participation, personal friendship networks and exposure to six concurrent sources of influence (SoI). A 2-step hierarchical cluster analysis and univariate analyses assessed between-cluster differences.
Girls played football least regularly (χ [4] = 86.722, p = 0.000). Overall, participation was significantly associated with personal networks engaged in football. Boys' personal networks were more stable and structurally effective. Football participation was also positively and linearly association with SoI scores. Girls and pupils with no personal networks around football reported the lowest SoI scores. Three clusters emerged, dominated by social network influences. The Traditional Market (n = 157, 27.7%) comprised 81.7% boys; they regularly played football, had the most effective network structure and scored highly across all six domains of SoI. The Sporadically Engaging Socialisers (n = 190, 33.5%) comprised 52.9% girls who rarely played football, reported low SoI scores and an inferior network structure. In the Disconnected cluster (n = 220, 38.8%), 59.3% were non-footballing girls who reported the lowest motivation and ability SoI scores; and no personal networks engaged in football.
This study reveals new insights about the primacy of social network effects for engaging children in football-based physical activity programmes. With little or no attention to these social-oriented issues, such interventions will struggle to attract 'target' children, but will readily engage already well-connected, experienced football-playing boys. The challenge for drawing non-footballing children into football-based interventions lies with engaging children - especially girls - whose social networks are not football-focused, while they also find football neither personally motivating nor easy to do.
新受众对基于运动的体育活动项目的参与程度受到实施的深刻影响。认识到有效的实施依赖于同时为最不参与的“目标”群体创造支持性的背景、系统和网络，本文旨在探讨儿童（不）参与足球体育活动的基础。
采用非概率样本，对 594 名小学和中学生进行了为期三年的“足球之城”（CoF）项目的观察性研究设计。学生自我报告足球参与情况、个人友谊网络以及同时接触的六个影响源（SoI）。使用两步层次聚类分析和单变量分析评估聚类间差异。
女孩踢足球的频率最低（χ[4]=86.722，p=0.000）。总体而言，参与度与参与足球的个人网络显著相关。男孩的个人网络更加稳定且结构更有效。足球参与度与 SoI 得分呈正线性关系。没有足球个人网络的女孩和学生报告的 SoI 得分最低。三个集群出现，由社交网络影响主导。传统市场（n=157，27.7%）由 81.7%的男孩组成；他们经常踢足球，网络结构最有效，在 SoI 的所有六个领域得分都很高。零星参与的社交者（n=190，33.5%）由 52.9%的女孩组成，她们很少踢足球，报告的 SoI 得分较低，网络结构较差。在脱节集群（n=220，38.8%）中，59.3%是非足球女孩，她们报告的动机和能力 SoI 得分最低；并且没有参与足球的个人网络。
本研究揭示了社交网络对吸引儿童参与足球体育活动项目的重要性的新见解。如果对这些面向社会的问题关注甚少，此类干预措施将难以吸引“目标”儿童，但会很容易吸引已经与足球有良好联系、经验丰富的足球男孩参与。将不踢足球的孩子吸引到基于足球的干预措施中的挑战在于，吸引那些社交网络不是以足球为中心的孩子，同时让他们觉得足球既没有个人激励作用，也不容易做到。
