Title: Barriers to youth sport participation in dense urban centres

Authors: Norm O'Reilly; Tony Hernandez; Benoît Séguin; Lance Warwick; Tahereh Hasani

Addresses: University of Maine, 168 College Ave., Orono, ME, 04469, USA ' Toronto Metropolitan University, 350 Victoria St, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada ' University of Ottawa, 75 Laurier Ave. E, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada ' University of Illinois, 506 S. Wright St. Urbana, IL 61801, USA ' University of Guelph, 50 Stone Rd E, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada

Abstract: This research examines barriers that urban youth face which limit participation in sport. Conceptually, this work distinguishes between three categories of active (participatory) engagement: 1) those that never participated; 2) those that used to participate; 3) those that do participate; and their level of passive engagement. A set of hypotheses for urban youth sport participation incorporating external and intrinsic factors are tested and guided by the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Based on pre-interviews with urban youth (n = 53), a large-sample survey (n = 3,003) of youth in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver was conducted. Results identified four segments of urban youth participation; a multiple regression analysis supported the TPB as an appropriate lens for understanding urban youth sport participation. The development of segments of urban youth based on sport engagement has implications for managers involved in promoting participation. The article contributes theoretically through the extension of the TPB in the context of urban youth participation.

Keywords: sport participation; marketing; consumer behaviour city; adolescent.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSMM.2023.130696

International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 2023 Vol.23 No.3, pp.175 - 203

Accepted: 13 Apr 2022
Published online: 03 May 2023 *

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