Children's participation in sports is influenced by many factors, according to a new Statistics Canada report.
These include gender, age, household income, parental education, parental involvement in sports activities, geographic location and immigrant status of parents.
The study looked at trends in regular organized sports participation of children aged five to 14, using data from the General Social Surveys (GSS) of 1992 and 2005.
While the gender gap is narrowing, it is still the case that boys are more likely than girls to participate in sports, and those in their early teens are more likely to take part in sports than younger children.
However, boys' participation in organized sports declined in all age groups, while the rate of girls' participation depended on their age.
Sports participation of boys has declined from 66 percent in 1992 to 56 percent in 2005. Over the same time period, sports participation of girls has changed little from 49 per cent to 45 percent.
Soccer has grown in popularity. Once seen as a European or South American sport, soccer has caught on among Canadian youth and become the most common sport for both boys and girls.
Nearly 20 percent of young people now play soccer while other sports have seen declining child participation, particularly baseball, swimming, downhill skiing volleyball, gymnastics and figure skating.
The report also found that children whose parents were highly educated with a higher income are much more likely to become involved in sports than those from low-income families or those whose parents have a high school diploma or less.
In 2005, 51 percent of two-parent households with children spent money on sports and athletic equipment, shelling out an average of $579 during the year.
In addition to these expenses, families may also spend money on facility rentals, transportation to sports events, club memberships and competition entry fees in order to support their children's participation in sports.
"In light of such costs, it is not surprising that sports participation is most prevalent among children from high-income households (highest adjusted income quintile) at 68 percent, and lowest among children from lower income households (lowest quintile), at 44 percent," Stats Can said.
If parents are involved in sports themselves the kids are more likely to participate, even if they are only spectators of amateur sport. And if both parents are involved in sports, participation rates are highest.
Children from small towns with a population of 10,000 - 49,999 are more likely to be sports participants than their counterparts in Canada's three largest cities, the study found.
Children of recent immigrants are less likely to participate in sports (32 percent) than children of Canadian-born parents (55 percent).
"While internationally popular sports such as soccer may provide the children of recent immigrants with a familiar place to integrate into Canadian society, even in soccer, participation is lower (10 percent) than among those whose parents are Canadian-born (23 percent)," said the report.
Other factors such as the quality of school sports programs and facilities, the safety of neighbourhoods, and the influence of peers may also influence children's sports participation, said Stats Can, but these factors were not examined in the 2005 GSS.
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