A History of Parent Involvement in Organized Youth Sport: A Scoping Review

A fundamental step in describing a research field is the review and synthesis of accumulated knowledge. Multiple qualitative reviews have been conducted over the last decade to provide a summary and commentary on the growing literature in the area of youth sport parenting. However, these reviews have focused on contemporary findings in the field, largely ignoring work in the area that began in the late 1960s. In light of this underdiscussed history, there remains a need to highlight the historical foundations of the youth sport parenting literature, the transitions that shaped the trajectory of work, as well as the contemporary research that informs our current understanding. The purpose of this scoping review was to provide a historical analysis of the literature on parent involvement in organized youth sport. In conducting the analysis, we identified key concepts and trajectories that define the field's foundational (1968-1981), transitional (1982-1998), and contemporary (1999-2020) periods. Specifically, this review not only sought to define and summarize these periods of research but also to use the synthesized knowledge to frame remaining gaps and potential future directions for the field.