Early Drop-Out from Sports and Strategic Learning Skills: A Cross-Country Study in Italian and Spanish Students.

Carla Consoni,Domenico Cherubini,Caterina Pesce

doi:10.3390/sports9070096

Abstract

The search for overarching factors involved in both sport and broader lifestyle and achievement domains may help to understand the early drop-out phenomenon. This study aimed to analyze the association between early sport drop-out and strategic learning skills, checking for the individual and joint role of nationality, school type, gender, age and sport habits. Six hundred and fourteen Italian and Spanish students aged 14–18 years completed two self-assessment questionnaires concerning physical activity, sports habits and learning strategies. Outcomes were analyzed with frequency analysis. Higher affective–motivational strategic learning skills were associated with lower drop-out rates in Italian but not Spanish students. In high schools with an enhanced sports curriculum, drop-out rates were negligible compared to other Italian and Spanish curricula. A lack of persistence in the same sport type was significantly associated with a higher drop-out rate in males but not in female students, who had overall higher drop-out rates. This study suggests that overarching personal skills, cultural characteristics and sports habits may independently and jointly contribute to sport drop-out. Specifically, affective–motivational learning skills may play a key role in sport persistence and in strategies tailored to drop-out prevention.

Highlights

Leal dos Santos and Alberto LorenzoPhysical and sports activities provide benefits to physical, mental and socio-emotional health [1]
Since early drop-out seems influenced by demographic variables such as gender and age [23], and by the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of sports activity [44,45], we further explored the hypothesized association of sport drop-out rates with strategic learning skills as a function of these variables
Further analyses distinguishing between sport and non-sport high school curricula in the Italian sample revealed that the cross-country effect depended on the sample composition of school type, which is different in Italy and Spain

Summary

Introduction

Leal dos Santos and Alberto LorenzoPhysical and sports activities provide benefits to physical, mental and socio-emotional health [1]. All people who exercise regularly improve their quality of life at any age and without gender differences [2,3]. In young people, sports training promotes good health, an optimal psycho-physical development and the acquisition of healthy lifestyles that will persist even in later ages [4]. Young athletes, especially the talented ones, may quit the sport prematurely during their school education before reaching their potential peak performance due to personal, social and contextual factors [8,9]. The drop-out rates from sports gradually increase across adolescence [13]; this is associated with physical inactivity later in life, contributing to unhealthy lifestyles [14]. Young people who exercise keep healthy lifestyle habits, such as continued physical activity and healthy nutrition [15].

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