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Abstract
Much evidence indicates that men experienced an evolutionary history of physical competition, both one-on-one and in coalitions. We thus hypothesized that, compared to girls and women, boys and men will possess a greater motivational predisposition to be interested in sports, especially team sports. According to most scholars, advocacy groups, and the United States courts, however, this hypothesis is challenged by modest sex differences in organized school sports participation in the contemporary U.S., where females comprise 42% of high school participants and 43% of intercollegiate participants. We conducted three studies to test whether organized school sports participation data underestimate the actual sex difference in sports participation. Study 1 analyzed the American Time Use Survey, which interviewed 112,000 individuals regarding their activities during one day. Females accounted for 51% of exercise (i.e., non-competitive) participations, 24% of total sports participations, and 20% of team sports participations. These sex differences were similar for older and younger age groups. Study 2 was based on systematic observations of sports and exercise at 41 public parks in four states. Females accounted for 37% of exercise participations, 19% of individual sports participations, and 10% of team sports participations. Study 3 involved surveying colleges and universities about intramural sports, which primarily consist of undergraduate participation in team sports. Across 34 institutions, females accounted for 26% of registrations. Nine institutions provided historical data, and these did not indicate that the sex difference is diminishing. Therefore, although efforts to ensure more equitable access to sports in the U.S. (i.e., Title IX) have produced many benefits, patterns of sports participation do not challenge the hypothesis of a large sex difference in interest and participation in physical competition.
Highlights
A game can be defined as an organized activity where two or more sides compete according to agreed-upon rules, and a sport can be defined as a game that requires physical skill
Our findings support the hypothesis of an evolved male predisposition for physical competition–one that manifests in contemporary societies as greater participation of males in sports
As noted in the Introduction, we do not claim that sports interest is entirely driven by an evolutionary history of male-male competition and the proximate effects of sex hormones
Summary
A game can be defined as an organized activity where two or more sides compete according to agreed-upon rules, and a sport can be defined as a game that requires physical skill (see [1,2,3]). Sports may function as physical competitions for status, differing from unrestrained combat or warfare because they reduce the risk of physical harm to competitors and more publicly and efficiently reveal the competitors’ competitive qualities [7,8,10]. Sports may function to build skills necessary for physically-demanding activities, especially combat, warfare, and hunting [2,11,12,13]. These hypotheses are based on adaptive logic, none require the claim that sports are an adaptation per se. Instead they assume (or allow) that sports arise as byproducts of other adaptations, including motives and capacities to physically compete for mates and status, negotiate and enforce behavioral norms, and monitor the abilities of potential competitors, mates and allies
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