Antecedents and consequences of parental involvement in youth sport experience

Parents are a unique and enduring feature in the sportinglives of children involved in youth shaping their experiences,behaviours and goals. Through recognising the challenges ofparental involvement it is important to examine the factorsthat influence parents’ experience and involvement inyouth sports. The objective of this study was to conduct asystematic review of parental involvement in sport literaturewith a focus on; antecedents and consequence of parentalinvolvement, athletes’ experience of parental behaviours andfactors that influence parents’ decisions within youth sport.We used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviewand Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P; 2015) guidelines.SPORTDiscus, PsychInfo, Web of Science, Science Direct,Scopus and Google Scholar were consulted. Seventy-fourpapers written in English, Spanish or Portuguese, involvingparental or athletic population (8-18 years old), published inpeer-reviewed journals between January 1974 and October2018 were included in the analysis. These were assessedusing the Standard Quality Assessment Criteria for PrimaryResearch Papers from a Variety of Fields (Kmet, Lee, & Cook;2004). The results indicate parental involvement is moderatedby a number of diverse behaviours and settings (e.g. level ofsport, pressure experienced, goals, and environment). Youthexperience during sport is influenced by parental perceptions(e.g. perceived benefit of the sport, athlete’s positive ornegative experience during sport, verbal behaviour) and theconsequences young people perceived parental involvement(e.g. parent-athlete motivation, continuing involvement,enjoyment, psychosocial outcomes). These antecedentsand consequences of parental involvement are important to consider when addressing research design specificallyexploring the stability or fluctuation of parental behaviours,influences and decision on youth sporting experiences.