Short Analysis Blog

Sports and physical activities can have an impact on people’s lives in more ways than one. Not only can it help one live a healthy life style and be a hobby/pass time for some, but sports and physical activities can also influences the life styles and decisions one makes later on in life. The article “Adolescent participation in sports and adult physical activity” by Tuija Tammelin talks about the relationship between participating in sports as an adolescent and how that would influence and affect the likelihood that one would continue being involved with physical activities as an adult. The article is about a study that was done where 7794 people responded to a survey about physical activity status at the age of 14 and then again at the age of 31 (Tammelin). The study showed that those who participated in sports and physical activities in their adolescence were more likely to continue to participate in physical activities as an adult. In the article, examples of the different types of sports and physical activities participated in at the two different ages were given. Reasons as to why people might participate in some of the sports and physical activities and why they might want to pursue being involved with them as time went on were also given. People need to be a where that sports and physical activities can influence their lives and that certain aspects of their lives can also have an impact on their participation in those activities.

            The life style one has and the activities that one is involved with in their adolescence can have an impact on the life style and the activities that they will be a part of as an adult. In the study, it showed that “the percentages of those who participated in sports daily, every other day, twice a day, once a day, and less often than once a day were 23%, 25%, 22%, 12%, and 18% for males, and 13%, 15%, 23%, 20%, and 29% for females” (Tammelin). For the participants at age 31, the results showed that “of very active, active, moderately active, and inactive persons were 13%, 28%, 29%, and 30% for males, and 12%, 29%, 25%, and 24% for females” (Tammelin). From the data collected by the study, one can see that males that participated in sports twice a week and females that participated once a week would be likely to be active or very active with sports and physical activities as adults. This helps to show that the life styles and the activities people do in their youth can influence what they end up doing later on in life.

            Another topic the article talked about was how the type of sport or physical activity that one participated in had an influence on what they participated in later on in life. The study showed that individual sports as well as team sports “showed a strong carry-over value from adolescence into adulthood” (Tammelin). For example, the data collected from the study showed that 27% of the males questioned participated in ball games and even more participated in endurance sports like running as adults.  This shows that the activities that one chooses to participate in early on in their life may influences the activities later on in their life as well.

            Tammelin also writes about how other factors such as where people live and their skills for a sport may influence their involvement in the sport and might ultimately influence their participation in the sport later on in as an adult. The article explains how people’s participation in certain activities might be influenced by the area they grew up in or by the social status of their family. Tammelin writes that people who live in urban areas might participate in activities that would need certain facilities and organization, such as combat sports or dance; however, people who live in rural areas might be more involved with activities such as running (Tammelin). Another factor that might affect one’s participation in a sport is their skills for certain sports. For some sports, motor and coordination skills are needed. People who have those skills might be more drawn to play those sports and further develop those skills by participating in that sport throughout their life.

            Sports, physical activities, and the life styles people choose to lead all have an impact on their lives. Whether it is how much a person chooses to be active, the activity being involved with, or other factors that influences people’s decisions on what to participate in, it is all important and can affect one’s life in one way or another. The ways sports and physical activities can have an influence on people’s lives is another reason why it is important to participate in them and lead healthy life styles.    

Bibliography

Tammelin, Tuija. "Adolescent Participation in Sports and Adult Physical Activity." American Journal of Preventive Medicine (2003): 22-28.