title: A growth curve to model changes in sport participation in adolescent boys.
abstract: The aims of this study are twofold: (1) to present the latent growth model, its strategy and usefulness in modelling sport participation over a 6-year period in youngsters (2) and to study the impact of biological maturation in sport participation changes. A standardized sport participation questionnaire using h/week/year as the unit of analysis was applied to 588 Belgium boys 13-18 years of age followed longitudinally for 6 years. Skeletal age was used to estimate biological maturation. Growth curve modelling with robust estimation was used. Sport participation changes showed a curvilinear trend: baseline values (3.18+/-0.13 h/week/year), a linear trend that indicates the rate of change (0.70+/-0.11) and a quadratic trend indicating deceleration, i.e. a change in the rate of change (-0.07+/-0.02) were all statistically significant (P<0.05), as well as inter-individual differences in these three parameters. Up to 16.8 years, the rate of sports participation increased 0.70 h/week/year and then declined. Biological maturation did not show any association with adolescent changes in sport participation.
authors.affiliation: CIFID and Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal. jmaia@fade.up.pt
authors.forename: J A R
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Maia
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lefevre
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Claessens
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Thomis
authors.forename: M W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Peeters
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Beunen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001530:Belgium; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007899:Leisure Activities; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D013177:Sports; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires