2016/04/06 by Yen-Chun Lin, Laurence Chalip, B. Christine Green · 16 citations
Health Professions · Medicine · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Applied psychology #Athletes #Coaching #Community Health and Development #Developmental psychology #Focus group #Life satisfaction #Medicine #Political science #Psychology #Salient #Sense of community #Service-Learning and Community Engagement #Social psychology #Sociology #Youth Development and Social Support #Youth sports
paper · doi:10.1080/01490400.2015.1093973
published in Leisure Sciences 38(5), 461-481 (Taylor & Francis)
crossref issued 2016/04/06 · crossref published 2016/04/06 · crossref published-online 2016/04/06 · openalex publication_date 2016/04/06 · crossref created 2016/04/07 · crossref published-print 2016/10/19 · crossref deposited 2023/08/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref indexed 2026/08/04 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
This multiphased study identifies the salient benefits that parents seek for their families from a youth sport program. Phase 1, a preseason focus group study of parents of swimmers in three clubs (N = 15), indicated parents seek a sense of community for their children and themselves, and sense of community is linked to their desire for children to learn sport and life skills. Phase 2, a postseason survey of parents in the same three clubs (N = 129), tested the relationships among coaching quality, friendships, organizational communication, sport and life skills, sense of community, parents' satisfaction, and their repeat purchase intention. Using path analysis, sense of community was identified as the key driver of satisfaction and repeat purchase intention, with swimming improvement also having a significant effect on satisfaction. These findings highlight the central role sense of community plays for participants and their families in youth sport contexts.