Study theorizes bout rise of youth sport industry, intensive parenting, & purposive leisure via sports--& increasing push to offer/invest in club/travel sports. Some benefits, but ~=, lots of $, huge time & effort commits, specialization & other pressures, & dropouts. Little reason to expect change.

Some unexpected diff’s when asked bout “competitive leagues” like travel/club, in most played sport—part rates more common, presumably bc defn of “competitive leagues” is more expansive. Also, non-club/travel "competitive leagues" seem to have dried up. But, measures point to pre-teen vs teen part.

Family & community sport culture aspects that mattered included parental fandom, parental athleticism, # sports made available to play regularly, availability of affordable rec sports nearby, & community's passion for sport. Longer durations of playing sports also linked to ever playing club/travel.

In fact, parents’ education interacted with generational differences such that disparities between having a parent w/ a college degree vs no college became pronounced among children born in the 1990s, compared to older generations.

Importance: recognize stresses and strains on parents; decision-making, organization, & motivation + falling on parents; links to inequalities; potential pressures on kids; access to fun, health and well-being, & other associated benefits; parent-child interactions & bonds; needs to collab for all

Main results: novel empirical evidence of generational + in parents’ attendance, (other) support, & (family) expenditures surrounding youth sports. Family SES esp salient in youngest generation(s). Consistently, sport cultures &, obvs, youth sport commitments + parental involvement in youth sports.

Finds modest parental involvement, on ave (parent(s) both attended & offered diff support “once a month” & it cost family “a little bit” for respondents to play sports, in a typical year, while growing up). But, as expected, markedly higher levels when immersed in sport cultures, while growing up.

Considers generational changes, relevance of family SES, family (e.g., parental fandom and athleticism) and community (e.g. # sports offered, passion) sport cultures, and youth sport commitments (e.g. # sports played, yrs played org sports, playing school, club/travel, and hs varsity sport).

Generally, it appears that esp Christian churchgoers particularly seem to appreciate that sport can promote and express values and ideals, and offer life training opportunities, including via football.

Football seems to be a “deep play” game, & means to build character & social bonds, supported by Muscular Christianity & Protestant Ethic connections. Its violence doesn't seem to particularly reduce support for it, among those who are esp religious & Christian—except among those w/ college ed.

Results: religious attendance + assoc w/ support for youth tackle football. Pronounced among Protestants/Christians & adults w/ < college ed. In fact, more freq attend + support among the less educated; - support among college educated. Black adults esp supportive—but no interaction w/ religiosity.

For example, there may be something unique abt football (e.g. cultural rituals; doing gender; nationalism; providence; proof of exceptionalism; sacrifice) that leads to + association bt religiosity & support for tackle football. In addition, might assoc depend upon ed attainment? Race/ethnicity?