Attitudes and Beliefs towards Sport Specialization, College Scholarships, and Financial Investment among High School Baseball Parents
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Participants
2.2. Questionnaire
2.3. Statistical Analysis
3. Results
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Variable | N (%), Mean (SD), or Median [IQR] |
---|---|
Parent Sex | |
Male | 73 (47.1%) |
Female | 82 (52.9%) |
Parent Age | 49.4 (5.5%) |
Parent Race | |
Asian | 8 (5.3%) |
African American/Black | 0 (0%) |
American Indian/Alaskan Native | 1 (0.7%) |
Hispanic/Latino of any race | 18 (11.9%) |
Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander | 0 (0%) |
White/Caucasian | 119 (78.8%) |
Two or more races | 5 (3.3%) |
Parent Education | |
Less than High School | 0 (0%) |
High school diploma or GED | 26 (17.0%) |
Associate or 2-year college degree | 14 (9.2%) |
Bachelor or 4-year college degree | 66 (43.1%) |
Graduate or professional degree | 47 (30.7%) |
Parent Median Household Income (USD) | 99,250 [77,631–120,231] |
Parent Median Household Income Tertile | |
Low | 60 (39.0%) |
Middle | 55 (35.7%) |
High | 39 (25.3%) |
Child Age | 15.8 (1.2) |
Child Grade | |
9th | 58 (37.4%) |
10th | 41 (26.4%) |
11th | 26 (16.8%) |
12th | 30 (19.4%) |
Variable | N (%), Mean (SD), or Median [IQR] |
---|---|
Total Number of Sports | 1.5 (0.6) |
Baseball Start Age | 5 [4–6] |
Years of Baseball Participation | 10.6 (2.0) |
Months/Year of Organized Baseball | 11 [9–12] |
Hours/Week of Organized Baseball | 12.3 (6.1) |
Hours/Week of Unorganized Baseball | 2 [1–5] |
Specialization * | |
Low | 28 (18.3%) |
Moderate | 52 (34.0%) |
High | 73 (47.7%) |
Club Baseball Team Participation | |
Yes | 110 (71.0%) |
No | 45 (29.0%) |
Participate in Baseball > 8 months per year | |
Yes | 119 (76.8%) |
No | 36 (23.2%) |
Hours/Week of Organized Baseball > Child Age | |
Yes | 34 (21.9%) |
No | 121 (78.1%) |
Number of Overnight Trips in Previous Year | 2 [0–5] |
Money Spent on Child’s Baseball in Previous Year (USD) | 3000 [1500–6000] |
Baseball-Related Injury in Previous Year | |
Yes | 51 (32.9%) |
No | 104 (67.1%) |
Question | Response N (%) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Not at all | A little | Somewhat | Very | Extremely | |
How concerned are you about the risk of injury in youth sports? | 18 (11.6%) | 34 (21.9%) | 59 (38.1%) | 37 (23.9%) | 7 (4.5%) |
How much does focusing on one sport and playing that sport all year increase your child’s chances of | Not at all | A little | Somewhat | Quite a bit | A great deal |
making a high school team? | 7 (4.5%) | 11 (7.1%) | 35 (22.6%) | 60 (38.7%) | 42 (27.1%) |
making a college team? | 7 (4.5%) | 12 (7.8%) | 27 (17.7%) | 46 (30.1%) | 61 (39.9%) |
getting injured? | 6 (3.9%) | 22 (14.4%) | 53 (34.6%) | 52 (34.0%) | 20 (13.1%) |
getting better at baseball? | 1 (0.6%) | 8 (5.3%) | 22 (14.5%) | 53 (34.9%) | 68 (44.7%) |
Not at all | A little | Somewhat | Quite a bit | A great deal | |
How much of a problem do you think early sport specialization is in youth sports? | 17 (11.0%) | 17 (11.0%) | 44 (28.4%) | 42 (27.0%) | 35 (22.6%) |
How Much do Each of the Following Reasons Limit Your Child’s Ability to Participate in Baseball? | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Not at all | A little | Somewhat | Quite a Bit | A Great Deal | |
Cost (participation fees, equipment, coaching) | 72 (46.4%) | 43 (27.7%) | 24 (15.5%) | 10 (6.5%) | 6 (3.9%) |
Time demands of baseball | 69 (44.8%) | 38 (24.7%) | 31 (20.1%) | 10 (6.5%) | 6 (3.9%) |
Travel requirements for tournaments or showcases | 55 (35.5%) | 45 (29.0%) | 24 (15.5%) | 22 (14.2%) | 9 (5.8%) |
Ability to transport your child to local practices or events | 91 (58.8%) | 38 (24.5%) | 20 (12.9%) | 3 (1.9%) | 3 (1.9%) |
Time demands of other sports | 98 (63.2%) | 24 (15.5%) | 22 (14.2%) | 7 (4.5%) | 4 (2.6%) |
Time demands of non-sport activities (work, church, school, etc.) | 37 (24.0%) | 55 (35.7%) | 38 (24.7%) | 20 (13.0%) | 4 (2.6%) |
Family responsibilities | 52 (33.8%) | 53 (34.5%) | 41 (26.6%) | 7 (4.5%) | 1 (0.6%) |
Computer or TV-based entertainment | 123 (79.4%) | 18 (11.6%) | 10 (6.5%) | 1 (0.6%) | 3 (1.9%) |
Variable | Low MHI N (%) | Middle MHI N (%) | High MHI N (%) | X2 | p |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Specialization | 11.6 | 0.02 | |||
Low | 14 (23.3%) | 9 (16.7%) | 5 (13.2%) | ||
Moderate | 27 (45.0%) | 17 (31.5%) | 8 (21.0%) | ||
High | 19 (31.7%) | 28 (51.8%) | 25 (65.8%) | ||
Club Baseball Participation | 7.7 | 0.02 | |||
Yes | 35 (58.3%) | 42 (76.4%) | 32 (82.1%) | ||
No | 25 (41.7%) | 13 (23.6%) | 7 (17.9%) | ||
>8 months/year in baseball | 6.1 | 0.047 | |||
Yes | 40 (66.7%) | 44 (80.0%) | 34 (87.2%) | ||
No | 20 (33.3%) | 11 (20.0%) | 5 (12.8%) | ||
Hours/week baseball > age | 1.8 | 0.42 | |||
Yes | 16 (26.7%) | 12 (21.8%) | 6 (15.4%) | ||
No | 44 (73.3%) | 43 (78.2%) | 33 (84.6%) |
© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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Post, E.G.; Rosenthal, M.D.; Rauh, M.J. Attitudes and Beliefs towards Sport Specialization, College Scholarships, and Financial Investment among High School Baseball Parents. Sports 2019, 7, 247. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports7120247
Post EG, Rosenthal MD, Rauh MJ. Attitudes and Beliefs towards Sport Specialization, College Scholarships, and Financial Investment among High School Baseball Parents. Sports. 2019; 7(12):247. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports7120247
Chicago/Turabian StylePost, Eric G., Michael D. Rosenthal, and Mitchell J. Rauh. 2019. "Attitudes and Beliefs towards Sport Specialization, College Scholarships, and Financial Investment among High School Baseball Parents" Sports 7, no. 12: 247. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports7120247