A Qualitative Study Examining Parental Involvement in Youth Sports over a One-Year Intervention Program

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Sep 24;16(19):3563. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16193563.

Abstract

The purpose of this 12-month intervention program was to examine parent-child relationship changes within the sports context. A qualitative interpretative phenomenological analysis was used for the study design. Ten families consented to in-depth interviews. The participants were 10 youth sport parents who had one child each aged 5-6 years. The intervention program involved the participation of all the parents and children. The program integrated psychological, educational, and sports skills into pre-organized sports training sessions. The study results revealed that the intervention program had a positive impact on the parent-child relationship in the sports context. Additionally, the study results suggest that parental involvement in the intervention program positively affected parent-child attachment, the quality of interpersonal relationships between the parent and the child, and effective parenting strategies. Future intervention programs should include both parent and children dyads.

Keywords: attachment; child; intervention study; longitudinal qualitative design; parent; phenomenological research; youth sports.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Parent-Child Relations*
  • Parenting / psychology*
  • Parents / psychology
  • Qualitative Research
  • Youth Sports*