Determinants of Sport Participation in Middle School Children and the Impact of Intramural Sports

The purpose of this study was to examine the determinants for adolescent participation in sports and to determine the impact of an alternate model of sport delivery (i.e., school intramural sports). More specifically, this study used the theory of planned behavior to highlight factors that might contribute to young people's decisions to play sports and to determine what impact an alternate model of sport delivery would have on intention to participate in sport. Three hundred and three students in grades seven and eight completed measures of their participation in intramural and extramural sports and items related to the theory of planned behavior. In addition to results that showed a relatively large number of students participating in school intramural sports, notable differences in the relative contributions of the predictor variables of attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control were found across different sport-participation subgroups. Suggestions for future research are made in the context of the limitations of the study.