Young people’s lifestyles and the role of sport involvement
Wolf-Dietrich Brettschneider/GER
Young people’s lifestyles and the role of sport involvement
by
Wolf-Dietrich Brettschneider
University of Paderborn, Germany
1
Introduction
At first glance, athletics would appear to be in a privileged situation. (1) Athletics can
look back on a long tradition in the sports system; (2) athletics can be confident of its
public image: For spectators, the media, and sponsors, athletics is extremely
attractive.
At second glance, though, we see a different picture. In affluent industrialised nations
particularly, fewer and fewer young people are coming into athletics. It’s a paradox:
Although the enthusiasm for sport has never been so great, and although there have
never been so many young people doing sports as today, it is becoming increasingly
difficult to ensure young people’s commitment to specific sports disciplines. In many
European countries, the percentage of participation in athletics has been falling for
years now. What is the reason for this trend, and how can we stop it? To answer
these questions, we first have to look away from athletics, and instead look at the life
situations of young people, their lifestyles and their image of sport.
That will indeed be the structure of my paper:
(1)
First, I will discuss the conditions in which young people in Europe are growing
up today, and then their lifestyles, which reflect the phenomena and changes
in modern societies.
(2)
The next step will be to analyse youth sports culture, some current trends and
the close connection between sport and adolescent lifestyles.
(3)
The final step will be to draw conclusions from the analysis regarding the
recruitment and integration of the young generation into athletics.
2
Today’s adolescents – reason for hope or group at risk?
Development in adolescence implies two objectives: that of shaping subjectivity and
that of integrating the young person into societal structures. Usually this
developmental process is bound up with the process of achieving various psychosocial tasks across the teenage years:
Slide: Development tasks
Successful coping with these developmental tasks has become more difficult by the
current social transformations and cultural changes observable in many European
societies. They also have a significant influence on the formation of young people’s
lifestyles and sport involvement.
Young people of today can no longer rely on secure traditional ties such as family or
church, or on given standards, social norms and life-patterns. Unlike the generations
of their parents and grandparents, modern adolescents are called upon to be the
producers of their own biographies and to rely on their own decisions.
This has produced a double-edged sword for adolescents. On the brighter side, the
changes have allowed a growing spectrum of biographical options for adolescents.
They are seen as members of a carefree “fun society”. Conversely, the search for the
EAA CEO Seminar, Nymburk/CZE, 02-04 November 2001
1
Young people’s lifestyles and the role of sport involvement
Wolf-Dietrich Brettschneider/GER
real me during this dynamic and intense period of transition has led to a greater
susceptibility to disturbed identity formation. The relationship between young people,
their lifestyles and the role of sport involvement varies with the interpretation of the
young generation’s situation. There is evidence that the development of adolescents
– I being made increasingly harder by today’s living circumstances. Rises in
psychosomatic problems as well as in deviance and delinquency can be taken as
evidence that many adolescents are having difficulties in dealing with the psychosocial strains brought on by tensions and inconsistencies in their developments.
Whether adolescents will be able to cope successfully with their developmental
tasks, depends largely on two areas: First, confidence in their own abilities and
competencies in various areas of life; second, the extent and quality of available
personal and social resources for supportive interventions. Based on these
assumptions the question arises as to whether active sport participation can
contribute to a diminishment of daily burdens and support adolescent development.
Slide: Can sports provide support?
Sports clubs and sports federations tend to answer these questions affirmatively. In
promotional brochures and on billboard ads they claim to promote proper psychosocial development in young people, to increase self-esteem, to support the
establishment of social relationships. Beside these outcomes they promise to
discourage negative behaviours and protect against juvenile delinquency such as
violence and experimenting with drugs.
Unfortunately there is no empirical evidence for the assumption that participation in
organized and shaping young people.
The results from my own longitudinal study, which are remarkably consistent and
clear in their basic direction, in accordance with international findings are the
following:





3
There are contradictions between expectations, raised by sports organisations,
government and politics and reality as uncovered in the empirical data.
Involvement in sports clubs has not been shown to have a significant effect on
the development of psycho-social health in young people.
The findings do not question the educational and social potential of participation
in organized sport.
The results suggest that participation in organized sport does not so much
change young people. Rather does it provide a context in which important
experiences can become the foundation for positive adolescent development.
This positive impact of organized sports activities does not happen automatically.
Whether young people benefit from their involvement in sports depends on the
quality of intervention programmes.
Young people’s lifestyle
So far the role of adolescent sport involvement in a “risk society”. Now let’s proceed
to the implications of today’s fun society on young people, their lifestyles and their
sports. Just as the standardized biography of former times has been replaced by a
EAA CEO Seminar, Nymburk/CZE, 02-04 November 2001
2
Young people’s lifestyles and the role of sport involvement
Wolf-Dietrich Brettschneider/GER
patchwork biography, the uniform adolescent lifestyle has given way to a great
variety of lifestyles and of sport concept and of sport concepts during adolescence.
As the concept of lifestyle remains somewhat cloudy, let me now turn to a few
theoretical remarks on lifestyle and the role of sport involvement in the process of
developing lifestyles during adolescence.
Lifestyle can be understood as the entirety of normative orientations and patterns of
behaviour of an individual. It is a short and precise descriptor of a person’s attempt
as a member of a society to organise his/her life in a specific and therefore distinctive
way. The concept of lifestyle provides a means of establishing and portraying one’s
individuality, and of gaining access to valued social and cultural groups or subgroups.
The main function of lifestyle, through the adoption of values, roles, memberships,
and behaviour patterns, can be seen to be the expression, development, and
preservation of one’s personal and social identity.
Lifestyle allows the development of everyday routines that provide stability for the
self, but it is also a means of displaying private identity agendas to significant others.
This is often most openly manifested in situations in which there is maximum
freedom of expression, as in the ways individuals choose to use their leisure time.
Sport, physical activity and fitness can be seen as important elements and symbols
of lifestyles.
As the traditional value systems have declined without being replaced by strong new
alternatives, for many the body has become the last bastion on which to build a
reliable sense of identity. Not only has the relationship between the body and identity
become stronger, but also the links between the physical and the lifestyles. People
are increasingly concerned with the management and appearance of the body, both
as a constituent of the self and as a social symbol.
The new emphasis on the body has allowed it to take on the quality of a social power
resource. Similar to our money (economic capital), our relationships (social capital),
our educational qualifications (cultural capital), the body has a social currency value
that can be converted into economic, cultural, and social profit. In short, a sporting, fit
and aesthetic body has become a source of power and status in society, which is
well reflected in young people’s lifestyles. The improved status of body capital for
young people seems directly linked to the increase in importance that sport and
physical activity have acquired in youth cultures. This lead us to the role of sport
involvement in the daily lives of young people.
4
Sport: A source of fun and achievement
Passivity and inaction are simply not in our nature. Human beings, so says
evolutionary biology, are programmed for effort and the desire to overcome. All our
organs, senses and skills need constant training if they are to be preserved and
remain fully functioning. So apparently useless activities are in fact useful – a
paradox that also applies to sport. But activity must also be fun; this applies to work,
and it applies to sport. So there is agreement that sport is a source of achievement
and fun, and therefore important to modern societies.
EAA CEO Seminar, Nymburk/CZE, 02-04 November 2001
3
Young people’s lifestyles and the role of sport involvement
Wolf-Dietrich Brettschneider/GER
Are we all talking about the same thing, though, when we speak of sport? Hardly.
What we are currently witnessing is a redefinition of sport, perhaps even the
emergence of a completely new identity. Sport is more than the sum of
institutionalised sports and sport disciplines. Today, sport is not only what sports
associations would like it to be seen as, but above all what people, especially young
people, subjectively feel sport to be.
The shift in values that sport is currently undergoing amounts to a change in
generations. It is the younger generation that is deciding the emphasis. In youth
sports culture, activities with an aura of action, thrill, fun and entertainment are “in”. In
the YOZ – the youth-only zone –fun sport, extreme sport, adventure sport and risk
sport have all become synonymous with sport itself.
Slide
Slide
However, despite these changes, we must not lose sight of the fact that traditional
sports disciplines like athletics still continue to shape the image of sport that
adolescents have. Since traditional sports disciplines in Europe are linked with clubs,
it makes sense to begin by investigating the situation of sports clubs and their
attractiveness for young people in general.
 Sports clubs, whose downfall has been predicted by many, are the no. 1 youth
organisation in many European countries.
 In Germany, approximately every second adolescent between 12 and 18 years of
age is a member of a sports club.
 In Europe, the level of participation has been stagnating at a high level for 20
years.
 But within the sports system, there are changes that look like a zero sum game.
One discipline’s gain is another’s loss. Traditional sports such as athletics,
gymnastics and handball are quite clearly on the losing side.
 What adolescents expect of clubs is obvious: They are not looking for a social
group experience, but an individual fun experience. The trend could be summed
up as moving away from group solidarity and more towards fun club. The motto:
“Not a lot of club, but a lot of fun”.
 Adolescents want a sport that leaves them scope for self-organisation,
spontaneity and creativeness. That is the reason why more and more subcultures
are forming, even in sport. The distinctive features of these “scenes”: No fixed
timetable where possible, no preprogrammed, standardized settings; but above
all: no control by adults.
 My next point will be to reject a frequent preconception. For the present young
generation, sport also needs to be linked with achievement, or it won’t be fun. So
the activities they seek are ones that promise immediate gratification in the form
of fun and a sense of well-being. The fun and success that come with years of
training, endurance and asceticism are less attractive. This is the first explanation
for why traditional sports disciplines are losing support and why young people do
not find athletics very attractive.
 However, sporting activities not only need to be fun, they also have to provide
excitement and risk – at any rate, they have to combat boredom. For young
people, there is nothing worse than boredom. The increasing attractiveness of
the kinds of sports that promise thrills is the answer to the “search for excitement
in an unexciting society”. In a world where we are cushioned against all the risks
and vagaries of life by insurance policies, young people feel prompted to expose
EAA CEO Seminar, Nymburk/CZE, 02-04 November 2001
4
Young people’s lifestyles and the role of sport involvement

Slide
5
Wolf-Dietrich Brettschneider/GER
themselves voluntarily to risks and danger. What they are seeking is the “ultimate
kick”. Boredom arises when people are under-stretched and unhappy about it.
Sport is a showcase for the cult of the body. In an age when sensuous
experiences are few and far between, a person’s own body has a special
significance. In this context, I would name two aspects of body perception that
belong together: One is a body that signalises physical fitness, the other is an
attractive, aesthetic body that we can present to others. Both aspects promise
social recognition and prestige in the adolescent’s key socialisation agent – the
peer group.
The relationship between sport and lifestyle
Physical activity and sport provide an arena for displaying the importance of
appearance and of the performing aspects of the body and of young people’s
lifestyles.
An illustrative insight into the relationship between sports, the physical self with its
two facets, physical attractiveness and physical ability, and emerging lifestyles is
provided by a comparative analysis of the beach volleyball and three-by-three
basketball “scenes”.
Beach Volleyball
Both scenes are characterised by a synthesis of sports culture, the cult of the body,
and a young lifestyle. Well-trained bodies, brand-name clothes in the season’s
fashion colours, sun-glasses by Oakley or adidas, and a specific type of music create
an almost erotic atmosphere in beach volleyball. At the same time, this is a lifestyle
to be found predominantly among highschool boys and girls from affluent families.
Streetball-Foto
Every bit as popular, but in many ways completely different, is three-by-three
basketball, played on the street, in ghettos and in communal yards. Bodies are not
shown off for status, but shrouded in mainly cheaper, darker and oversized sports
clothes. The background sound to “cool” actions is rap or hiphop. Here too, there is a
specific lifestyle – one found more among adolescents located on the lower rungs of
the social ladder. An analysis of the snowboarder and surfer, or rollerblader and
skater scenes would show up the connection between sport, body concept and
lifestyle in the young generation in a similar manner.
This example raises questions about how adolescents link their sports activities and
their physical self with their lifestyles. In the following section, results from a panel
study conducted with young people in Germany will be summarised in order to
analyse this relationship more systematically. Within this study, which focused on the
relationship between sport and physical activity and adolescent development,
aspects of psycho-social health and patterns of behaviour were assessed. Factor
and cluster analyses of the different attitudes and behavioural patterns provided a
basis for drawing up a lifestyle typology for young people. Types of subjects have
been formed that maximise intra-group similarity / homogeneity while at the same
EAA CEO Seminar, Nymburk/CZE, 02-04 November 2001
5
Young people’s lifestyles and the role of sport involvement
Wolf-Dietrich Brettschneider/GER
time producing maximum inter-group separation. Time constraints allow only a brief
description of the types that emerged from the analyses:
Type 1:
No sports!
This represents a small group of boys and girls whose appreciation of sport is limited.
They are interested in computers, in music, or in other leisure-time activities. Their
sometimes overweight or undermuscled bodies do not epitomise the cultural ideal of
a fit and attractive body. The social network of these young people is intact, and
relations with friends and parents are equally harmonious. Psychosomatic constraints
and deviant behaviour do not occur.
Type 2:
Musclemen
A further small group of adolescents are highly interested in martial arts and other
activities that are considered to be a means of enhancing strength and displaying
virility. They meet adults in a very reserved manner; same-sex peer groups rather
than parents or other adults provide the major reference points of everyday life.
Deviant behaviour from heavy drinking and smoking to juvenile delinquency are
characteristic elements of the lifestyle of this group. Its members are males, mostly of
low socio-economic status.
Type 3:
The body as an object of desire
The next type represents a group whose lifestyle is significantly influenced by a
negative body concept. It is mostly girls from all social strata that form this group.
They are living on good terms with their parents and their peers. But their self-esteem
and well being is impaired by a general feeling of physical discomfort. They are not
particularly interested in organised sport, but there is an intense longing for a slim
and athletic figure, which is thought to enhance personal attractiveness. The
prevalence of psychosomatic constraints is above average.
Type 4:
Looking good and feeling great
The next group consists of young people who are absorbed in a constant search for
individuality and self-expression. Physical attractiveness is valued highly. Their sport
concept is based on fun rather than on training and performance. They prefer to do
physical activities in commercial fitness-studios and dislike organised sport like
butterflies flitting from blossom to blossom, they fluctuate from sport to sport. These
mostly middle-class adolescents are characterized by health-oriented hedonism.
They do not seem concerned about their relationship to adults and their parents.
Their alcohol and nicotine consumption is high. Style and individualism are the
priorities that characterize their lifestyle.
Type 5:
Young, active and self-confident
More male than female youngsters form this group. They are enrolled in sportsclubs
and involved in traditional sports. They are likely to rely on perceptions of sport
competence, physical achievement and fitness. Their self-esteem is based on a
positive body concept. They are integrated into a stable social network. There is no
marked tendency to violence or other patterns of deviance and delinquency. The
consumption rates of alcohol and drugs are low Their lifestyle can be labelled as
“sporting”.
Type 6:
Just feeling good
EAA CEO Seminar, Nymburk/CZE, 02-04 November 2001
6
Young people’s lifestyles and the role of sport involvement
Wolf-Dietrich Brettschneider/GER
In this large group we find older boys and girls, whose lifestyle is well balanced.
Many of the female adolescents have left the sportsclub and are irregular clients of
commercial gyms, whereas their male counterparts are active sportsclub members.
They are involved in competitive sports and in informal activities at the same time.
Sport in all its variety and with all its meanings is a commonly accepted element in
their lifestyles. Same-sex and opposite-sex relations are important. They are not
affected by psychosomatic constraints and stay away from deviant behaviour and
delinquency.
This typology shows up two main facts:
(1)
The close connection between life conditions, the body, sports and lifestyle in
young people
(2)
The great influence that developments in society have on adolescent sports
culture and the great diversity of commitment to sports, body concept, and the
development of lifestyles.
With regard to clubs’ efforts to recruit young people to athletics, and retain their
loyalty, I must restrict myself to a few comments:
6





Conclusions
Young people of today want to be taken seriously. They want freedom and selfdetermination. Many clubs and associations offer them little scope for this.
Young people want to have fun just doing, and tackling a task. There needs to be
a balance between the challenge presented by the tasks and their own skills.
Asking too much of them results in uncertainty and fear. Asking too little results in
boredom and frustration.
Young people seek the thrill of success and borderline experiences. They want to
avoid boredom and routine, and experience adventure, risk, and thrill. This
combination holds out the hope of fun.
Young people want recognition of their activities and achievements, especially
from people who mean something to them. Those people are their peers.
Adolescents are given recognition when their activities in sport are consistent
with the group’s lifestyle, or even help shape it.
Last but not least one thing is plain: Any attempt to adapt the youth of today to
the conditions of athletics of yesterday is doomed to fail. Rather, the youth sector
in athletics needs to be adapted to fit modern adolescent lifestyles.
EAA CEO Seminar, Nymburk/CZE, 02-04 November 2001
7