Reasons to Stay in Club Sport According to 19-Year-Old Swedish Participants: A Salutogenic Approach

Abstract

Abstract A vital part of many teenagers’ lives is participation in club sports. Despite this, many adolescents drop out of club sports. Since physical inactivity is increasing among young people, this is of great political concern. One aim of this study is to explore why young people in their late teens continue to participate in organized club sports. Another aim is to examine the perceived levels and intensity of physical activity among participants and non-participants (n = 377). The results show that primary reasons to continue participating in club sports are having fun and the sense of enjoyment, the sense of belonging, and the sense of improving sport skills. Of lesser importance, however, is the desire to compete. A large amount of club sports participants (74%) report that they are regularly physically active in an intense form of exercise compared to a significantly smaller amount (12%) of non-participants. The findings are discussed in relation to Aaron Antonovsky’s salutogenic approach and his concepts of sense of coherence (SOC).