Background: Women, particularly those with young children, engage in less leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) than men. Additionally, mothers living in rural areas have more difficulty participating in LTPA than those in urban areas. The aim of this study was to analyze the challenges faced by mothers of rural areas of Gipuzkoa in LTPA participation, from a feminist perspective. Methods: A total of 129 mothers (age 41.5 ± 5.9; 45.7% inactive) with young children completed the Gipuzkoa Women’s Physical Activity Questionnaire. Concurrently, four focus groups were organized in four different municipalities, in which 19 mothers of young children participated (13 were inactive). Barriers were classified based on the socioecological perspective. Results: The most frequently mentioned intrapersonal barriers were lack of time due to work and caregiving, age-/pregnancy-/motherhood-related health issues, and a feeling of rejection toward LTPA. The most relevant interpersonal barriers were a lack of partners to do LTPA with and a lack of spouse support. The main environmental barriers were related to the shortage of facilities and activities suited to their needs and the rugged terrain. Conclusions: Mothers of young children living in rural areas face barriers twice over: because they are women and mothers and because they live in a rural environment. It therefore seems important to consider their perceived barriers to design, develop, and implement strategies to promote LTPA among this population group.
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Barriers to Leisure-Time Physical Activity Among Women of Rural Gipuzkoa: A Mixed-Methods Approach
Olaia Eizagirre-Sagastibeltza, Uxue Fernandez-Lasa, and Oidui Usabiaga
Mentioned, Quoted, and Promoted: How Sports Journalists Constructed a Narrative of Athletes’ Value in the “Name, Image, and Likeness” Era
Shannon Scovel
Using theories of framing and agenda setting, this study explores how journalists covered women athletes during the first week of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s new “name, image, and likeness” (NIL) policy. Athlete representation during this first week was critical, as it established precedent for which athletes, according to media members, held value and were worthy of publicity. The findings from this study show that journalists focused their reporting of NIL on U.S. male athletes, although women athletes such as Olivia Dunne, Haley Cavinder, and Hanna Cavinder were also frequently mentioned in relation to their large social media following, lifestyle, or appearance. Overall, reporters generally promoted a male-dominated NIL agenda, one that undervalued women athletes and minimized their potential role as sporting celebrities in the college sports space.
Self-Reported Performance and Hormonal-Cycle-Related Symptoms in Competitive Female Athletes
Johanna K. Ihalainen, Sinikka Takalo, Katja Mjøsund, Guro Strøm Solli, Maarit Valtonen, Marja Kokkonen, Anthony C. Hackney, and Ritva S. Mikkonen
Introduction: The present scientific consensus is that the menstrual cycle (MC) and hormonal contraceptive (HC) cycle only influence performance trivially. Nevertheless, athletes perceive changes in performance that they associate with different phases of their hormonal cycle. Methods: A total of 959 female athletes completed a questionnaire, of which 750 were included in the present analysis. The questionnaire included questions about demographics and experiences of the MC and HC (symptoms, perceived impact on performance characteristics). Results: In total, 55% of athletes reported a natural MC while 45% reported HC use. Meanwhile, 56% of all athletes reported a decline in perceived performance during the bleeding or inactive phase, whereas 26% of all athletes reported no changes in performance over their hormonal cycle. All athletes reported an average of 10 ± 7 symptoms during hormonal cycles. The naturally menstruating (NM) group reported more symptoms than the HC group (p < .05). The most frequent symptoms reported were abdominal pain, bloating, and mood swings. Only 7% of all athletes (4.1% in NM and 11.3% in HC) reported an absence of any symptoms. Quantity of total symptoms was associated with a perceived decrease in performance (R 2 = .138, p < .05). Hormonal cycles had the greatest negative effect on mental performance with 37% reporting a large to very large effect. Conclusions: Perceived negative effects on performance were similar in both NM and HC groups while perceived mental performance (e.g., mood and attention) appeared to be most affected by both MC and HC.
Volume 38 (2024): Issue 4 (Jul 2024)
Anti-Black Misandry as an Emotional Reflection With Black American Male College Athletes: An Interpretative Phenomenological Study
Donald D. McAulay Jr.
Black American males, specifically Black male athletes, experience a form of twoness that uniquely recognizes their talents but also a societal fear. This work addresses Black American males’ multidimensionality and emotional and psychological expressions when dealing with societal racism. This work explores Anti-Black misandry through an interpretive phenomenological lens. Five Black American men who are former college athletes reflect and emotionally express their experiences being a Black man and an athlete throughout their entire athletic continuum and post their athletic tenure. Results suggest that Black males are willing to express their vulnerabilities emotionally in safe spaces while recognizing racialized gender norms about emotional expressions. Implications of this study suggest that Black American male college athletes, when given constructive support, have meaningful ideas and resolutions about how society can honestly acknowledge their humanity and not just gaze at their existence as entertaining objects.
Better to Have Played Than Not Played? Childhood Sport Participation, Dropout Frequencies and Reasons, and Mental Health in Adulthood
Laura Upenieks, Brendan Ryan, and Chris Knoester
This study considers the long-term mental health implications of organized youth sport participation, informed by an accumulation model of health, the Sport Commitment Model, and a life course perspective. Using data from the National Sports and Society Survey (N = 3,931) and multiple regression analyses, results indicate that adults who continually played organized youth sport had fewer depressive and anxiety symptoms compared with those who played and dropped out and those who never played. Dropouts had worse mental health than those who never played. Furthermore, among dropouts, reported interpersonal reasons for dropping out of organized sport were consistently associated with subsequent mental health but some structural factors also mattered. These findings point to a need to improve the interpersonal and structural environments of organized youth sport.
Equality Unfulfilled: How Title IX’s Design Undermines Changes to College Sports
Jordan Keesler
The National Collegiate Athletic Association and the Exploitation of College Profit-Athletes: An Amateurism That Never Was
Kirsten Hextrum
Stability and Change in Sports Fandom Over Time: A Longitudinal Study of U.S. Women’s Professional Soccer Fandom
Rachel Allison, Radosław Kossakowski, and Stacey Pope
Scholars have recognized that sports fandom is not static, but temporal and fluid. However, little longitudinal research has traced the development of fandom over time. This analysis makes a new contribution to the sociology of fandom and women’s sport by drawing from interviews with 35 U.S. adults who attended the 2019 Women’s World Cup and were reinterviewed after the 2023 Women’s World Cup to consider how and why fandom of U.S. women’s professional soccer develops over time. Findings show stability in high levels of identification but fluctuating practices. Themes of the life course and opportunity structure show the importance of individual and team/league changes to fans’ ability to engage in a range of behavioral expressions associated with their fandom and also account for the small number of participants whose attachment to women’s soccer waned. By offering new insights into the factors that shape (changing) fan attachments and practices, we advance knowledge about women’s sport fans at a time when women’s soccer is undergoing rapid change. Our findings can also inform future longitudinal work in other sport contexts.
“They Seem to Only Know About Bleeding and Cramps”: Menstruation, Gendered Experiences, and Coach–Athlete Relationships
Anna Goorevich and Sarah Zipp
Menstruation is a barrier to women’s sport participation through stigmas, silence, a lack of coach and athlete education, discomfort in communication, and risk of menstrual disorders, especially at nonelite levels. This study provides a qualitative and quantitative, poststructuralist feminist examination of the barriers and facilitators to positive coach–athlete communication and relationships around menstruation. The aim of the study is to create a gender-responsive model of coaching about menstruation. An online questionnaire was completed by 494 athletes aged 16 years or older. Utilizing poststructuralist feminist theory, qualitative and quantitative analysis highlighted women athletes’ experiences with menstruation, particularly surrounding coach–athlete communication. The results illustrated the heterogeneity of menstruation experiences, with athletes’ previous gendered experiences leading them to resist and/or uphold traditional, masculine-centric gender norms in sport. Most athletes experienced negative menstruation symptoms, but many did not speak with coaches about menstruation, highlighting menstruation’s current position as a siloed topic in sport, usually reserved just for women coaches. Athletes did not discuss menstruation due to discomfort, coach ignorance, menstruation stigmas, and fears of consequences. Athletes largely agreed coaches knowing and discussing menstruation would bring benefits, such as performance improvements, stronger coach–athlete relationships, and erasure of menstruation stigma. Overall, barriers to menstruation discussions include stigma, antagonism and pessimism, and maintenance of a masculine norm. A model of gender-responsive coaching around menstruation is proposed for coaches and sport organizations, which promotes integration and proactivity, tolerance and trust, and protection of athlete voice and agency.