Sports participation and the 'obesity/health crisis': Reflections on the case of young people in England
Smith, Andy Green, Ken Roberts, Ken
Smith, Andy
Green, Ken
Roberts, Ken
Advisors
Editors
Other Contributors
EPub Date
Publication Date
2004-12-01
Submitted Date
Collections
Other Titles
Abstract
There has been growing concern in recent years about the emergence of a supposed 'health crisis' - in the form of an 'obesity epidemic' - among young people, one of the maincauses of which, it is assumed, is their declining levels of involvement in sport and physical activity. This brief paper offers some critical comments on the taken-for-granted relationship between these two emergent 'crises' and argues that, in contrast to popular opinion, young people are, in fact, doing more sport and physical activity than at any other time in the past, but that this process has co-occurred, and continues to co-occur, with increasing levels of obesity and overweight. In order to begin to adequately explain these co-occurring processes, it is argued that we need to examine young people's lives in their total context, while noting, in particular, the continuing significance of broader social processes and the networks of relationships in which they are involved.
Citation
International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 2004, pp. 457-464
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Journal
International Review for the Sociology of Sport
Research Unit
DOI
10.1177/1012690204049081
PubMed ID
PubMed Central ID
Type
Article
Language
en
Description
This article is not available through ChesterRep.
Series/Report no.
ISSN
1012-6902