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Playing For An Active Community: Sports Participation And Civic Engagement, Ian E. Ritz

Sociology Honors Projects

Research on civic engagement in associations posits benefits at various levels in society. Critical perspective holds that sports may alternately teach positive social behaviors while reinforcing discriminatory stereotypes in its participants. The research question becomes, does participation in youth sports actually lead to civic engagement later in life? Using a longitudinal data set, I find that after controlling for other factors, there still is an indirect positive correlation between team sports participation and volunteering as a young adult. Analysis indicates that sports participation as an adolescent significantly accounts for sports participation as a young adult which in turn, influences volunteering.