Is there an influence of relative age on participation in non-physical sports activities? The example of shooting sports.
The aims of this study were to test for the presence of a relative age effect among male (n = 119,715) and female (n = 12,823) members of the shooting sports federation, and to determine whether any such effect has an impact on dropout from the sport. For the boys and girls, the results show a uniform distribution of dropout. A relative age effect was not found for the girls, showing that in female shooting sports there is no such effect. For the males, a significant statistical relative age effect was not detected in the 18-20 and 13-14 year categories. However, a relative age effect was found among adults and the 11-12 and under 11 year categories. A significant "inverse" relative age effect was found for the 15-17 year group. Further qualitative research is needed to clarify which factors contribute to this asymmetric distribution of birth dates in French male shooting sports.
Delorme
Nicolas
N
Laboratoire Sport et Environnement Social (SENS), Universite J. Fourier Grenoble 1, Grenoble, Cedex, France. nicolas.delorme@ujf-grenoble.fr
Raspaud
Michel
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D003163:Competitive Behavior; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013177:Sports; D055815:Young Adult