Sports Marketing Special Session: Youth Sport Participation and Youth Olympic Games: An Abstract

Abstract

The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) are the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) initiative to combat the epidemic of obesity and dropping youth sport participation rates. With the introduction of the YOG, the OG research domain has extended its frontiers. While the issue of youth sport participation is becoming an essential part of the Olympic movement, there are only a handful of studies on YOG. The current study aims to examine the impacts of YOG on the attitudes of Canadian (non-host-country) youth guardians within the context of the III 2018 Summer YOG held in Buenos Aires (Argentina) (BYOG) and to make a comparison with attitudes of Norwegian (host-country) guardians II Winter 2016 YOG held in Lillehammer (Norway) (LYOG). The Norwegian convenience sample (usable N = 43) was approached online via invitations posted on the municipal websites during the LYOG (i.e., February 12–21, 2016). Given the low response rate in Norway, the data collection methodology was modified and, to secure a more reasonable sample size, the Canadian sample was approached via a marketing panel research company. The Canadian sample (usable N = 500) was drawn from a general population in Ontario (Canada) during the BYOG (i.e., October 6–18, 2018). The parents/guardians in both countries were asked to share their views on the benefits of regular sport participation for their children as well as their own attitudes towards the YOG and the benefits of regular sport participation. The analyses of data from both events suggest that there are overall positive attitudes towards the YOG in both host- and non-host-country cases. In both countries, parental individual involvement with the YOG proved to have a strong significant effect on guardians’ attitudes towards children’s sport participation; however, Canadian guardians, in comparison to Norwegian ones, showed overall higher involvement level with the YOG. This was an unexpected outcome since it was expected that the host-country sample would exhibit more excitement and, hence, involvement level with the YOG. The factor analysis revealed differences in item loadings in two countries, which could be contributed to cultural differences as well as host/non-host status of the samples. The regression analyses in both samples revealed that parental conative attitudes are significantly influenced by their evaluation of the LYOG and BYOG respectively and perception of the sport participation benefits. In both sample, the guardians shared strong significant positive attitudes on the impact of the respective YOGs on their children’s individual and social development. This comparative study contributes to the existing theories and knowledge creation through the investigation of the YOG. It brings forward the issues related to youth sport participation by illuminating the potential of sport mega-events to create new ways of motivating youth to engage in more active and healthy lifestyles.