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Running head: SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND SPORT PARENTS 1
Factors Related to Sense of Community in Youth Sport Parents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Parents play an essential role in the youth sport experience,
performing necessary roles such as registering their children, paying registration fees, ensuring
that their children get to and from games and practices, and often playing a vital volunteer role in
the organization. Despite these crucial functions, research has paid little attention to the
experience of the parent and the potential benefits that a parent may accrue as a result of his or
her involvement with the program. As parents often spend a large amount of time involved with
their child’s youth sport experience and often interact with other parents in that experience, the
development of a feeling of sense of community among the parents is one possible and important
component of that experience. Research has suggested that sense of community is associated
with numerous positive outcomes. Although sense of community has been studied in numerous
settings, it has not specifically been studied in youth sport with parents. The purpose of this
study, therefore, was to better understand factors that predict a higher sense of community among
youth sport parents. Participants were recruited from three different youth sport programs –
soccer, tackle football, and flag football. Researchers collected data from 122 parents of youth
sport participants regarding their level of involvement, perceived choice, identification with the
program and sense of community. Results from this study suggest that parents of youth who
participated on a sports team often develop a greater sense of community. Specifically, parental
level of involvement and perceived choice were significant predictors of sense of community
(p<.05), and the association between identification and sense of community was moderated by
the number of years the youth was on a particular team (p<.05). Several practical implications
can be drawn from these results including suggestions for how to involve parents in the program
and to increase the parent’s perceived choice. Sports teams who implement incentives and
recognition for volunteering, and promote the positive experience of the parent in the youth sport
SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND SPORT PARENTS
2
program, will likely facilitate an enhanced sense of community. This study makes an important
first step in exploring this aspect of the parental experience. Future research may wish to explore
the impact of parental sense of community on the youth sport experience as well as the
effectiveness of programming interventions designed to improve sense of community among
parents.
KEYWORDS: youth sports, parents, sense of community
AUTHORS: Eric Legg is with the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism, University of
Utah, 1901 E. South Campus Drive, Annex C, Room 1104, Salt Lake City, UT 84112. Phone:
801.581.8542. Mary Sara Wells is also with the University of Utah. John P Barile is with the
Department of Psychology, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND SPORT PARENTS
3
Parents play an essential role in the youth sport experience, devoting considerable time,
finances, and effort to the youth sport program. Functions performed by parents include signing-
up and paying for their child’s participation, providing significant volunteer labor, and being
chauffeur, financier, and cheerleader (Fraser-Thomas, Côté, & Deakin, 2005; Fredricks & Eccles,
2004; Green & Chalip, 1998). In addition, parents perform a number of essential volunteer roles
that are essential to the functioning of the organization (Community Development Council of
Durham, 2009; Searle & Brayley, 2000; Sharpe, 2006). Often, youth sport organizations highly
recommend or require parents to volunteer as part of their child’s participation in the program
(May, Zhang, & Connaugton, 2010). In addition, parents serve as the primary source of youth
sport coaches (Barber, Sukhi, & White, 1999; Silverberg, Marshall, & Ellis, 2001). In one study,
Busser and Carruthers (2010) noted that 90% of the coaches were parents. In these various ways,
parents become “co-producers” of the youth sport experience (Busser & Carruthers).
In addition to performing necessary practical functions, parents also play a key role in the
ongoing experience of the youth sport participant. Research indicates that youth participants
perceive parental influence to be much higher than the parent perception of that influence
(Kanters, Bocarro, & Casper, 2008). Thus, the experience and resulting attitudes and behaviors
of the parent is particularly influential to the experience of the youth participant. For example,
parents often view participation as a means to an end; rather than an end of itself (Shannon,
2006). Logically, this may influence youth to seek extrinsic rather than intrinsic rewards for
participation.
Parental influence can be positive or negative. At a basic level, they influence a youth’s
decision to drop out or continue participation in youth sport (Fraser-Thomas, Côté & Deakin,
2008). Parents who provide unstructured play opportunities, are emotionally supportive, and
balance the importance of sport with other activities, are likely to have children who continue in
SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND SPORT PARENTS
4
and are more engaged in their sport activity. Youth are also more likely to enjoy youth sport due
to the encouragement of their parents (Brustad, 1996; Leff & Hoyle, 1997), and the expectancy
of success and the value that a youth places on sport participation is strongly influenced by the
values of his or her parents (Brustad).
In contrast, youth whose parents coach from the sideline during games or provide
rewards for performance are more likely to drop out of youth sport (Fraser-Thomas et al.,2005
Negative sportsmanship behavior of parents is also strongly related to negative sportsmanship
behavior of youth participants (Athur-Banning, Wells, Baker, & Hegreness, 2009). Further,
parents’ behavior as spectators can also negatively impact a youth’s experience. For instance,
background anger, even if not projected directly at the youth participant, may cause undue stress
on the youth participant (Omli & LaVoi, 2009). It is clear that the role of the youth sport parent is
pivotal to the experience of the youth. Research, however, has largely focused on the experience
of the youth participant. Given the pivotal role that parents play in the youth recreational sport
experience, however, it is critical to also examine the experience of the parent in the youth sport
experience (Omli & Wiese-Bjornstal, 2011; Wiersma & Fifer, 2008).
Conceptualizing Sense of Community
One potential component of the experiences of a youth sport parent is the development of
a feeling of sense of community. The existing literature abounds with varying constructs related
to community including social cohesion, social capital, social resilience, and sense of community
(Kramer, Seedat, Lazarus, & Suffla, 2011). One of the most commonly used theories emerged
from the field of community psychology and the work of McMillan and Chavis (1986) who
defined sense of community, or psychological sense of community (SOC) “as a feeling that
members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and to the group, and a
shared faith that members’ needs will be met through their commitment to be together” (p. 9).
For McMillan and Chavis, SOC develops through the interaction of four elements – membership,
SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND SPORT PARENTS
5
needs fulfillment, influence, and a shared emotional connection. These four elements are
presented in further detail below.
Membership. Membership refers to the general feeling that one belongs as part of the
group (McMillan & Chavis, 1986). The feeling of membership is developed through the
interplay of multiple sub elements including boundaries, emotional safety, a sense of belonging,
and a personal investment. Boundaries clearly denote who is and who is not part of the group and
may be formed by barriers to membership or symbols of membership. Within the boundaries of
membership, the group member feels emotional safety to speak honestly and to be vulnerable. A
sense of belonging includes not just a feeling of belonging, but also an awareness of being
accepted. Finally, one’s personal investment in the group may represent a form of dues that are
paid to be part of the group (McMillan, 2011).
Influence. The second element of SOC is influence (McMillan & Chavis, 1986) or trust
(McMillan, 1996). Similar to membership, influence is achieved through a personal investment.
This personal investment represents a sacrifice given to belong to the group and also makes the
individual member more attractive to the community (McMillan, 2011). Within a community,
influence operates bi-directionally; that is, the community influences the member through
community norms and shared values and the member also influences the community (McMillan,
2011).
Integration and fulfillment of needs. Put simply, individuals are attracted to
communities that help them fulfill their personal needs. Those needs may be physical, emotional,
social, or psychological, and include rewards such as status, success, and demonstrated
competency (McMillan, 2011). When an individual perceives that his or her needs are met within
a community, that individual is more likely to feel SOC within that group.
Shared emotional connection. Finally, a shared emotional connection contributes to a
SOC (McMillan & Chavis, 1986). A shared emotional connection develops when community
SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND SPORT PARENTS
6
members spend time together around events that have value, closure, and that honor members.
This shared time also becomes symbolized in rituals, common symbols, traditions, and stories
(McMillan, 2011).
Predictors of SOC
The existing research points to several factors that predict SOC and are particularly
relevant to parents of youth sport participants. These factors include level of involvement,
choice, and social identification (see, for example, Brayley & Obst, 2010; Breunig, O’Connell,
Todd, Anderson, & Young, 2010; Obst & White, 2007). Level of involvement appears to be one
of the strongest predictors of SOC in a number of settings including recreational activities
(Breunig, et al.), and community organizations (Obst, Smith, & Zinkiewicz, 2002). Specifically,
Breunig and colleges noted that participants in an outdoor recreation program experienced an
increase in the four elements of a sense of community as they participated more in group
activities (Breunig, et al.) For parents of youth sport participants, numerous opportunities, as
spectators, volunteers, or fellow fans, exist to be involved with the group of parents and thus
develop an increased SOC (Busser & Carruthers, 2010; Fredricks & Eccles, 2004; May, Zhang,
& Connaughton, 2010) In addition, the connection between level of involvement and SOC is
theoretically consistent, as level of involvement represents a personal investment of a group
member that enhances both feelings of membership and influence (McMillan, 2011). This
personal investment may come in the form of time investment or financial investment. Further,
McMillan suggested that community members must share time in order to experience as shared
emotional connection.
Another factor that appears to influence the level of SOC is the degree of choice that the
individual had in choosing to participate in the community. Previous research demonstrates links
between the perception of choice and a number of psychological variables including overall
well-being (Deci & Ryan, 2004). Specific to the sense of community literature, Obst & White,
SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND SPORT PARENTS
7
(2007) found evidence that choice in group membership may impact social identification and
SOC in communities of interest. In the youth sport setting, participation is voluntary, therefore a
parent would appear to always have a choice. However, parents often feel pressure to put their
child’s needs above their own personal needs even if doing so sacrifices their own personal
choice and enjoyment (Choi, Henshaw, Baker &Tree, 2005; McGannon & Schinke, 2013). Thus,
whether a parent perceives that he or she has completely freedom of choice or is simply
sacrificing to the needs of his or her child is likely to be an indicator of SOC.
Finally, the degree to which a parent identifies with a particular community is likely to
influence his or her feeling of SOC. The relation of social identification to SOC has been of
particular interest to researchers with results suggesting a significant relationship between the
two constructs (e.g. Brayley & Obst, 2010; Obst & White, 2005, 2007).Social identity is defined
as “that part of an individual’s self-concept which derives from his knowledge of his membership
of a social group (or groups) together with the value and emotional significance attached to that
membership” (Tajfel, 1978, p. 63). Cameron’s (2004) work further distinguished three factors of
social identity - centrality, ingroup affect, and ingroup ties. Centrality represents the salience of
group membership (Cameron). That is, is the group membership important to the individual?
Ingroup affect represent specific emotions that arise from group membership (Cameron). For
example, youth sport parents may experience happiness as a result of their relation with other
youth sport parents. Similar to sense of community, ingroup ties are the psychological
connections between an individual and the group (Cameron, 2004). Indeed, parents of youth
sport participants appear to strongly identify with their child’s youth sport experience (Peter,
2011). Although over-identification can be negative, it is clear that this elements often exists in
youth sport parents (Omli & LaVoi, 2012).
SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND SPORT PARENTS
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SOC may be an important component of the experiences of a youth sport parent as
evidence suggests it is associated with a range of positive outcomes. For example, individuals
who feel strong SOC are more likely to be engaged in healthy activities (Peterson & Reid, 2003),
experience decreased feelings of alienation (Pretty, Andrewes, & Collett, 1994) and negative
moods (Roussi, Rapti, & Kiosseoglou, 2006), have increased self-confidence and emotional
connections (Goodwin, et all, 2009), have improved coping skills (Greenfield & Marks, 2010),
and experience increased feelings of empowerment (Peterson & Reid). Communities that have
members with strong feelings of SOC benefit from increased civic participation (Chavis &
Wandersman, 1990), prosocial behavior, and volunteerism (Omoto & Snyder, 2009). Thus, the
development of SOC within sport fans may be an important and beneficial outcome of their
experiences.
The Youth Sport Parent Community Setting
Although there has been considerable research related to SOC in various communities,
the community of youth sport parents is unique. For example, while parents often have a high
level of involvement in the program, it is also possible for a parent to simply drop his or her child
off and use the youth sports program as a de facto babysitter. Additionally, while parents are
ultimately the ones who decide on their child’s participation, that choice is strongly influenced
by their child’s desires, which may determine the degree parents perceive they had a choice in
participating in the program. Finally, the community of parents is not as clearly identifiable as
communities defined by geography or participation around a common interest. For example, in a
geographic community, there are clear physical boundaries to the community. For a community
of youth sport parents, although it is clear who is a youth sport parent, the degree that this is a
community may not be readily apparent. Thus, the degree to which parents identify with the
community may not be clear. Indeed, no specific study has been completed to confirm the
SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND SPORT PARENTS
9
development of SOC among youth sport parents. Hence, particularly given the importance of
parents to the youth sport experience, there is a need to explore factors that may relate to SOC in
this particular setting. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to test the relationship of three
factors with the development of sense of community in the youth sport setting: 1) level of
involvement in the youth sport setting, 2) identification with the youth sport experience, and 3)
degree of choice in enrolling a child. The following hypotheses were tested:
H1: Higher levels of time involvement in the youth sport setting will be a significant
predictor of SOC.
H2: Higher levels of financial involvement in the youth sport setting will be a significant
predictor of SOC.
H3: Higher levels of identification with the youth sport experience will be a significant
predicator of SOC.
H4: Higher levels of perceived choice from parents in participation in youth sport
programs will be a significant predicator of SOC.
H5: The association between identity and sense of community will be stronger for parents
who have had their children involved in youth sport programs for many years compared
to parents who have had their children in a youth sport program for only one year.
Method
Participants and Procedure
IRB approval as an exempt study was obtained prior to the collection of any data.
Participants in this study were parents of youth participants in three recreational sport programs
located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Parents of children who participated in a
youth recreational soccer program, a youth flag football program, or a youth tackle football
program were recruited to participate via an e-mail invitation to complete an online
questionnaire. Each league administrator sent the questionnaire directly to potential respondents.
Data were intentionally collected near the end of each respective season to allow for SOC to
SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND SPORT PARENTS
10
develop. These three particular programs were chosen both to represent a diversity of sports and
because program administrators suggested they believed a high sense of community existed.
Prior to the start of the study, researchers contacted the league administrators to obtain
their agreement and willingness to participate in the research project and then researchers
obtained IRB approval. At this point, potential research participants received an electronic
invitation to complete an online questionnaire. Two of three participating organizations sent an e-
mail from the league administrator directly to potential participants. Approximately 600 youth
participated in the youth flag football league, and e-mails were sent to 480 households.
Participants ranged in age from 6-14. The 9-11 age group represents the largest age division with
266 players. Exact numbers for the youth tackle football program were not available, however, it
is estimated that e-mails went to approximately three-fourths of the roughly 400 participating
families. Youth participants ranged in age from 6-16. The third organization invited potential
participants to complete the questionnaire through an article in a weekly e-mail newsletter. Each
questionnaire remained open for approximately two weeks to allow interested participants ample
time to respond.
Participant recruitment yielded 122 respondents (53 parents of children that played flag
football, 36 parents from tackle football, and 33 from soccer). The sample was largely female
(73%), White (81%) and had a household income of over $100,000 (86%). The majority of
participating parents had two (52%) or three (30%) children.
Measures
Sense of community. A comprehensive questionnaire assessing a multitude of factors
was designed to meet the specific objectives of the study. Sense of community and identification
characteristics were evaluated using two scales that were embedded in the larger questionnaire.
The Sense of Community Index 2 (SCI-2; Chavis, Lee, & Acosta, 2008) was used to assess the
overall strength of sense of community (SOC) among a community of parents of sports
SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND SPORT PARENTS
11
participants. The SCI-2 uses 24 items on a 4-point Likert-type scale to measure participants’
feelings on how well the statements represent a specific community (e.g. their soccer or football
league). Examples of statements include “I get important needs of mine met because I am part of
this community”, “I put a lot of time and effort into being part of this community,” and
“Members of this community care about each other”. Responses ranged from 1 (Not at All) to 4
(Completely). Previous research found this scale to have high internal consistency (α=.94)
across a large diverse sample (Chavis et al., 2008). Based on these 24 items, a mean summary
score was created from each participant (range, 1.29-3.83; M = 2.42; SD = .57). The summary
score was found to be normally distributed (skewness = .28; kurtosis = -.33) and similar to
previous studies (Chavis et al., 2008), this measure was found have very high reliability (α = .
95).
Social identification. Identification was evaluated by the Three-Dimensional Strength of
Group Identification Scale (TDSIS; Cameron, 2004). This 12-item scale examines three distinct
elements of identification: centrality, in-group affect, and in-group ties. For purposes of this
study, however, only a summary score was evaluated. The summary score was calculated by
taking an average of Likert type responses (1-5, strongly disagree to strongly agree) to 12
statements regarding parents’ level of identification with the community (e.g., I have a lot in
common with other members of this community.). The summary score was found to be normally
distributed (range, 2.33-3.58; M = 2.87; SD = .20; skewness = .25; kurtosis = .84) and similar to
previous studies (Cameron, 2004; Obst & White, 2005), this scale was found to have strong
psychometric properties (α =.90; Cameron; Obst & White, 2005).
Participation. The study also aimed to determine what other factors may influence sense
of community including level of involvement and degree of choice. To measure level of
involvement the questionnaire asked open-ended questions about the average number of weekly
SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND SPORT PARENTS
12
hours that the respondent spent with the community during the last year (time involvement) and
approximate average annual expenditures related to participation within this community
(financial involvement). To measure degree of choice, participants were asked to rate their level
of choice on a Likert-type scale ranging from 1-No Choice to 5-Complete Choice. Finally,
parents were asked how many years their child had participated in their community (i.e., years on
the team). This was believed to influence the degree to which identification is associated with
sense of community.
Covariates. It is important to adjust for individual differences that may influence
individuals’ responses but may not be directly relevant to the research questions at hand. For this
reason, gender was included as a covariate due to previous findings suggesting that men and
women may report differences in SOC (Lambert and Hopkins, 1995) and the number of children
in each family was included as a covariate because we believed that families with more children
may have less time and fewer monetary assets to invest in each child’s team, potentially limiting
their sense of community.
Results
Eighty-nine of the 122 individuals that participated in the study had complete data for all
variables in the model. Missing data on one or more items on the SOC scale corresponded to the
greatest amount of missing data (n = 21), followed by individuals that had missing data on one or
more items on the identification scale (n = 8) and data missing on the perceived choice item (n =
6). Individuals with missing data compared to those with no missing data were very similar along
all demographic variables (e.g., gender, income, number of children). Additionally, no significant
differences were found between individuals with complete data compared to those without
complete data in their levels of parental time involvement (t = .90, p = .376), financial
involvement (t = -.09, p = .931), identification (t = .40, p = .693), perceived choice (t = .11, p = .
SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND SPORT PARENTS
13
910) or SOC (t = .58, p = .572). Therefore, as missing data appeared to be completely random,
all missing data were handled using listwise deletion.
A three-step hierarchal regression was conducted in order to determine whether predictor
variables were associated with SOC (see Table 1). Step 1 regressed SOC on five independent
variables: parental time involvement in the youth sport setting (Hypothesis 1), level of financial
involvement in the youth sport setting (total dollars/100; Hypothesis 2), level of identification
with the youth sport experience (Hypothesis 3), perceived choice from parents in participation
(Hypothesis 4) and gender and number of children in the home (covariates). Results from this
step accounted for a significant amount of variance in SOC (R2 =.30, p <.001) and supported a
significant association for time involvement (Hypothesis 1: b =.039, p = .012), financial
involvement (Hypothesis 2: b =.02, p = .037) and perceived choice (Hypothesis 4: b=.12,
p=.013). A significant association between level of identification and SOC was not supported
(Hypothesis 3: b=.25, p =.335). Additionally, being male (compared to female) was not found to
be a strong predictor of respondents’ SOC (b =.069, p=.536) but the number of children in the
home was (b=-.146, p =.010), suggesting additional children in the home was associated with
lower reports of SOC.
In order to further determine whether the lack of an association between level of
identification and SOC was due to the length of time a youth had been on a particular team
(Hypothesis 5), an interaction between level of identification and team time was tested.
Following recommendations by Aiken and West (1991), moderation was tested by entering the
main effect for the number of years on the team in step 2 (e.g., for six years, b = .100, p < .001),
and the product term of level of identification by years on team in step 3 of the regression model.
The full regression model accounted for a large amount of variance in SOC (R2 =.42, p < .001).
Results from step 3 found a significant association between the interaction term and SOC (b=
SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND SPORT PARENTS
14
-.41, p = .017). This suggests that the association between identification and SOC is dependent
upon how long a child has been on a particular team. Probing of this interaction revealed that if a
child had only been on a particular team for one year, identification was significantly associated
with SOC (b =.64, p = .020), and if an individual had been with a team between two and six
years, there was not a statistically significant association between identification and sense of
community (e.g., for two years, b = .97, p = .335), and if they had been on the team for six or
more years, there was an inverse relationship between identity and SOC (e.g., for six years, b =
-1.61, p = .037). A graphic display of these interactions appears in Figure 1.
Interpretation of Results and Implications for Practice
This study makes an important contribution to the literature by expanding on our
understanding of the experience of youth sport parents. A number of researchers have noted a
gap in work related to the youth sport parent experience (e.g., Brustad, 1992; Fredricks & Eccles,
2004; Omli & Weise-Bjornstal, 2011; Wiersma & Fifer, 2008). Although recent studies have
stepped in to that gap, the primary focus remains on how the parent influences the youth
experience, rather than purely on the experience of the parent (e.g., Fredricks & Eccles; Omli &
LaVoi, 2009). In contrast, this study focused solely on the experience of the parent.
One notable exception to this gap is a recent qualitative inquiry in to the experience of
youth sport parents. In this exploration, Wiersma and Fifer (2008) indicated that interaction
opportunities with other parents was one benefit of being a youth sport parent. The current study
expands on that preliminary finding, by analyzing specific factors that results in a sense of
community in youth sport parents. As the results of this study demonstrate, certain characteristics
of the parental experience in a youth sport program can increase the feeling of sense of
community within those parents. Given the important potential outcomes of a feeling of sense of
community, including benefits to the individual, the program, and the broader community, it is
SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND SPORT PARENTS
15
important for youth sport administrators to consider programmatic elements that can enhance
those characteristics.
As hypothesized, level of involvement was a significant predictor of sense of community.
Parents who spent more time in the program and parents who spent more money on their child’s
youth sport experience were likely to experience higher sense of community. This result is
consistent with qualitative findings in other recreational settings where participants stated that
the more involvement they had in activities, the more they experienced SOC (Breunig, et al,
2010). For program administrators who wish to increase parental SOC, therefore, a logical step
would be to encourage parental involvement.
Numerous opportunities already exist for parental time involvement within youth sports
programs, including coaching, league administration, field maintenance and numerous others
tasks (Peter, 2011). Parents are often essential to the execution of these tasks and the success of
the overall program. The question for administrators then becomes how to encourage parents to
get involved. Parental involvement serves a practical function of simply getting tasks done, while
also increasing the parent sense of community, which then has a snowball effect of parents
wanting to contribute more to the community. Research on the motivations of youth sport
volunteers points to personal values being a primary motivator to volunteer (May, Zhang, &
Connaughton, 2010). Further, although parents have a practical reason to volunteer for the
benefit of their own children, they are also motivated to benefit children in general (Busser &
Carruthers, 2010). Thus, in order to encourage parental involvement and subsequently increase
SOC, it behooves program administrators to promote the benefits of overall positive youth
development. By promoting the benefits of volunteering to parents, the sport administrator can
increase parental involvement in the program, thereby creating numerous benefits to both the
parent and the program.
SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND SPORT PARENTS
16
A related finding that emerged from this study is that the number of children in the home
is inversely related to SOC within the youth sport program. In other words, parents who have
more children experience a lower sense of community within the youth sport program. This is a
logical result, as parents with multiple children are more likely to have their time and energies
spread thinner across the activities and various communities of all of their children. Although
this may seem like a logical and irrelevant finding – after all, administrators cannot control how
many children a parent has – there are possible administrative implications from this finding.
Many youth sport programs often run entirely separately from each other, despite the fact that the
participants in these programs are often many of the same families or even same youth. For
example, in this study, the soccer program and youth flag football program are run by two
different organizations. Many, of the families, however, likely have children participating in both
programs. Thus, it benefits administers to find synergies among the programs that will offer not
only practical advantages, but may create a wider and more diverse community identity, rather
than a sense of community that is tied only to one specific program. For example, multi-purpose
recreational facilities are popular settings for physical activities, including sports (Finch, et al.,
2010). Indeed, in this study these programs use many of the same fields. Having parents from
both programs join together to assist in field maintenance may allow parents to be
simultaneously involved in both communities, while also creating one larger community of youth
sport parents.
Another relevant finding for the youth sport administrator is that the degree of perceived
choice is a significant predictor of sense of community. This finding is consistent with research
in other settings (Brayley & Obst, 2010). That is, parents who perceive that they had a higher
amount of choice to participate in the program, experience a higher sense of community.
Although parents are ultimately the ones who enroll their children in the program, in many cases
SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND SPORT PARENTS
17
parents feel pressured to sign their children up for activities beneficial to the child (Choi,
Phenshaw, Baker& Tree, 2005; Coakley, 2006). Thus, parents may or may not perceive that they
had a high degree of choice in the decision. Additionally, although many parents willingly
volunteer to help with the program, in other cases, the volunteering may be a result of pressure
from the organization or other parents when the team is in desperate need of a coach or other
volunteer position. It may, therefore, not be immediately obvious the degree of choice versus a
sense of obligation that a parent perceives that he or she has. Hence, it is incumbent upon
administrators to allow for that choice, while simultaneously encouraging the parental
involvement. For example, program marketing materials may highlight not only the experience
of the child, but also the experience of the parent. Kanters (2002) suggested that a social
marketing strategy that highlighted the benefits to the target audience and society as a whole may
be most effective for discretionary activities such as sports and recreation. Therefore, market
materials should highlight potential benefits to parents, including the development of a
community. Also, as noted previously, given motivations to contribute to overall youth
development (Busser & Carruthers, 2010), marketing materials could highlight the important
role parents play in that process. This is also consistent with Kanters’ suggestion of promoting
the benefits to society as a whole. By demonstrating that the program may be a positive
experience for the parent as well as the child, the parent may feel he or she has a higher degree of
choice in choosing to participate in the program.
In terms of encouraging additional time involvement, the reality is that sometimes it is
simply a case of administrators asking for involvement. In one study of youth sport volunteers,
researchers noted that sometimes simply being aware of a need and being asked to help
motivates volunteers (Community Development Council of Durham, 2009). The report also
noted that institutional barriers such as finding out about needs or need to complete burdensome
SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND SPORT PARENTS
18
processes also limited involvement (Community Development Council of Durham). Thus, to
encourage parental involvement, administrators need to make the needs clearly known and make
it easy for parents to get involved by removing as many institutional barriers as possible.
One of the more complex findings is the interaction between identification and number of
years spent with a team. Although identification with the program was not an overall significant
predictor of sense of community, further probing revealed a significant interaction between
identification and number of years on the team. Specifically, identification is a significant
predicator of higher SOC in the first year of participation, but is not significant in subsequent
years, and then is actually a significant predictor of a lower SOC after six or more years with a
team. Upon reflection, this is not necessarily a surprising finding. Parents with children who are
in their first year of a program are not likely to have spent the time in the program or have built
the relationships that would create identification with the program. Thus, administrators need to
find other ways for parents to identify with the program. This could take the form of team shirts
for the parents, or in connecting parents electronically through social media. In contrast, after six
years with a team, higher identification actually predicts lower SOC. This may be a result of the
parent now having older children who were more self-sufficient with their participation in the
league.
Limitations. As with any study conducted in an applied setting, limitations existed that
may minimize the generalizability of the results. Participants in the study were overwhelmingly
female (73%), White (81%) and had a household income of over $100,000 (86%). Therefore, it
is unclear if the results would apply to more diverse or lower income populations.
Further, SOC may be influenced by a number of other factors that were not measured by
this study. For example, individual personality traits also appear to influence sense of
community. Personality traits such as extroversion/introversion (Deneui, 2003; Lounsbury,
Loveland, & Gibson, 2003), agreeableness/disagreeableness and openness/guardedness
SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND SPORT PARENTS
19
(Lounsbury et al., 2003) all appear to affect an individual’s SOC. While a number of studies have
focused on the personality types of recreation and competitive athletes as well as coaches
(Coetzee, 2010; Miner, 2009 for example), there is a void of research related to personality types
of parents of athletes. Additionally, even though one might speculate that parents who choose to
engage in the youth sport experience of their child are more likely to have these characteristics
that lead to feeling a sense of community than someone who is not engaging in the community, it
is unclear from these data whether the youth sport experience or the personality of the parent is
most influential in leading to SOC.
Implications for Future Research. This study represents an initial stepping stone for
future researchers hoping to understand the experience of the youth sport experience and the
impacts of that experience. Future research should focus on the impact of SOC in this setting.
For example, if parents develop a higher SOC how does that affect their behavior during games,
or how does a higher SOC affect interactions with other parents outside of the youth sport
experience? Further, if a parent develops a higher SOC within the youth sport setting does that
lead to a higher overall quality of life for the parent? Gaining insight into these questions will
help administrators design programs that facilitate positive experiences of parents.
Additionally, there are some logical implications for administrators by testing the relation
of specific program elements (e.g., registration discounts for volunteering) in an intervention
approach. This could help administrators better identify specific elements that could enhance a
sense of community among parents.
In addition, as noted above, this research was conducted with a relatively homogenous
group of participants. Parents from different backgrounds may have varying capacities to be
involved with the program or different expectations. As such, future research should explore if
these findings apply to samples from varying demographics.
Conclusion
SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND SPORT PARENTS
20
This paper represents an important step in research that seeks to understand the
experience of the youth sport parent. Although SOC has been examined in multiple settings, the
experience of a youth sport parent is unique, and thus, it is important to begin by testing common
predictors of SOC to see if they applied to this setting. The results indicate that, indeed, a SOC
does appear to develop consistent with hypothesized predictions. These results further lead to
practical implications for the youth sport administrator who wishes to develop a SOC among the
parents of participants. As parents play an essential role in the youth sport experience, it is hoped
that by adding a focus on the experience of the youth sport parents, the administrator will be able
to improve the experience for both the parents and the participants.
SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND SPORT PARENTS
21
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Table 1.
Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting Sense of Community
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
Variable b SE β b SE β b SE β
Gender -0.07 0.11 -0.06 -0.11 0.11 -0.09 -0.06 0.10 -0.05
Children -
0.15*
*
0.06 -0.25 -0.10 0.05 -0.18 -0.08 0.05 -0.14
Hours a
week
0.04* 0.02 0.26 0.04*
*
0.01 0.28 0.04*
*
0.01 0.29
Money
spent
0.02* 0.01 0.21 0.01 0.01 0.12 0.01 0.01 0.13
Identificati
on
0.25 0.25 0.09 0.32 0.24 0.12 0.10 0.25 0.03
Perceived
choice
0.12* 0.05 0.24 0.12*
*
0.05 0.24 0.11* 0.05 0.22
Years with
team
0.09*
*
0.03 0.30 0.07* 0.03 0.25
Identificati
on X Years
with team
-0.41* 0.17 -0.24
R2.30 .38 .42
F for
change in
R2
5.91(6)*** 9.65(1)** 5.98(1)*
Note. *p < .05. **p < .01.
SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND SPORT PARENTS
27
Figure 1: Association between Identification and Overall Sense of Community
Figure 1. This figure represents the association between identification and overall sense of
community for individuals that have been on the team for one year and three years. Low
identification represents one standard deviation below the sample mean and high
identification represents one standard deviation above the mean.
