An investigation into the impact of gender on early specialisation in sport

Abstract

This investigation was carried out with the aim of establishing a potential correlation between a child’s gender and early specialisation in sport. 126 subjects took part in the investigation, ranging in age from 14-16 years old. The study itself was quite small scale. All subjects attended a mixture of rural and urban post-primary schools within Northern Ireland.

The subjects completed a questionnaire, created to analyse the overall number and gender of students who have specialised in a single sport. The questions were selected to gauge past and present sport involvement. Males spent 6.1 hours per week participating in sport, whilst females spent 5.6 hours, meaning males participated in more hours of sport than females. All but one of the 126 subjects, 82 males and 44 females, participated in sport. On average, 36% of subjects participate in one sport only. Of this 36%, 52% are female, with 36% being male, meaning more female subjects have specialised in a single sport.