A family affair? Exploring the influence of childhood sport socialisation on young adults' leisure- sport careers in north- west England

Based on interviews conducted with 19 young adults aged 30-35-years-old living in north-west England, this paper examines the features of childhood sport socialisation that typically precede high levels of leisure-sport participation in adulthood. The evidence suggests that the extent to which respondents were invested with different experiences of sport socialisation by their parents was influenced by financial and transport constraints, whether parents had themselves participated in sport, and the extent of parental encouragement. Those with the highest levels of adulthood participation tended to have two sports active parents who encouraged them to participate in leisure-sport, typically for enjoyment and the love' of sport, and who experienced fewer financial and transport constraints than other parents. These respondents were also more likely, to have inherited sporting habituses and values from both parents who were in turn more able, and likely to purposively invest their offspring with different resources during childhood as an aspect of family-based leisure relationships. The evidence suggests, however, that each of the identified features of childhood sport socialisation are necessary, but not sufficient, conditions for promoting high levels of leisure-sport participation during adulthood. Finally, the article concludes that sport policies may help raise the overall level of participation among the population, but frequent, and perhaps more health promoting, participation may remain confined to a minority who benefited from the required kind of sports socialisation in their childhood families. ?????????????19?30?35??????????, ???????????????????????????????, ??????????????????????????????????, ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????, ????????????????, ?????????????????????????????????????????????, ????????????????????????????, ????????????????????????, ???????????????????????????, ?????????????????????, ?????????????????????????????, ????????????????????????????????????????? Baseado em entrevistas conduzidas com 19 jovens adultos entre 30 e 35 anos de idade morando no noroeste da Inglaterra, este trabalho examina as caracteristicas da socializacAo pelo esporte na infancia que tipicamente precedem altos niveis de participacAo em lazer esportivo na vida adulta. A evidencia sugere que a amplitude na qual os entrevistados foram levados por seus pais a diferentes experiencias de socializacAo pelo esporte era influenciada por restricoes financeiras e de transporte, se os pais participavam tambem de esportes, e do grau de encorajamento por parte dos pais. Aqueles com os mais altos indices de participacAo na vida adulta tendiam a ter dois pais praticantes de esporte que os encorajavam a participar de lazer esportivo, geralmente por diversAo e pelo amor ao esporte, e que tinham menores restricoes financeiras e de transporte do que outros pais. Esses entrevistados tambem eram mais propensos a herdarem habitus e valores esportivos de ambos os pais que eram, por sua vez, mais capazes e mais propensos a propositalmente oferecer a seus filhos diferentes recursos durante a infancia, como um aspecto das relacoes de lazer da familia. No entanto, a evidencia sugere que cada uma das caracteristicas identificadas da socializacAo pelo esporte na infancia e condicAo necessaria, mas nAo suficiente, para promover altos niveis de participacAo em lazer esportivo na vida adulta. Por fim, o artigo conclui que politicas esportivas podem ajudar a aumentar o nivel geral de participacAo entre a populacAo, mas a participacAo frequente, e talvez mais ligada a saude, pode permanecer confinada a uma minoria que se beneficia das formas requeridas de socializacAo pelo esporte nas familias de sua infancia.