Relationship Between Socioeconomic Status and Organized Sports Among Primary School Children: A Gender-Based Analysis of Sports Participation

Sports participation according to socioeconomic status (SES) was related to children in high-income Western countries. This study aimed to examine whether family or neighborhood-level SES is associated with current and continued organized sports participation, including the types of sports, among Japanese primary school children from preschool onward. The participants consisted of 269 girls, 255 boys, and their parents. Data on the type of sports participation at the current school or preschool, parental employment, and education were collected by questionnaire. Neighborhood-level SES was evaluated by the average annual income within 4 km of each school. The odds of sports participation was higher among children with mothers identifying as housewives or those with mothers employed part-time. Among girls, the odds of continued sports participation were lower if their mothers were junior high school or high school graduates or junior college/vocational school graduates. The odds of sports type like swimming were higher for children whose mothers had part-time jobs. Lower average community income was associated with lower participation in football and higher participation in baseball. These findings suggest that mothers' employment and academic background are important correlates of sports participation for children, with variations observed by sport type and gender.