Toward Equitable Sport Opportunities: Addressing Sociodemographic Disparities in Youth Sport Engagement

The aim of this study was to evaluate the associations between sociodemographic factors and different factors of sport participation in early adolescent children. The participants were school-aged children from Kosovo (n=1813; 911 girls) aged 13.7±0.9 years who regularly attended the 8th and 9th grades of elementary school. The variables included sociodemographic data (age, gender, urban/rural living environment, parental education, and socioeconomic status) and sport factors (participation in team and individual sports, experience in sports, and competitive achievement). Differences in sport factors between groups based on sociodemographic variables were established via the Mann‒ Whitney test (MW) and Kruskal‒Wallis ANOVA (KW) The results revealed a positive association between gender and all factors of sport participation, with boys being more involved in sports (MW=7.33 and 13.56, p<0.01 for individual and team sport participation, respectively) and for a longer time (MW=18.23, p<0.001) than girls. The urban living environment was significantly associated with all the observed sport factors (MW=5.04, 2.94, 3.82, all p<0.001). Higher socioeconomic status (KW=13.81, 22.69, and 13.01, all p<0.01), higher paternal education (KW=54.11, 17.11, and 44.83, all p<0.001), and higher maternal education were positively associated with the observed sport factors (KW=85, 11, 28.34, and 108.54, all p<0.001; for team sport, individual sport participation, and experience in sport, respectively). Sociodemographic variables are strong determinants of sport participation in children, and intensive efforts are needed to build similar opportunities for involvement in sports for all children in Kosovo.