3.6.5 Percentage of Canadian children aged 6 to 9 years who participate in coached sports, by gender, Canada, 2006-2007
Source: CICH graphic created using data adapted from the National Longitudinal Survey on Children and Youth, Cycle 7, 2006-2007. Custom Runs.
Canadian boys aged 6 to 9 years are more likely to participate in coached sports most days a week (45%) than are girls (27%).
A similar proportion of boys and girls participate once a week.
Children living in low income families are less likely to participate in coached sports most days/a few times a week than are those living in high income families.
Only 21% of children living in families with incomes below the LICO* participated compared to 51% of children living in family incomes which were three times the LICO.1
1National Longitudinal Survey on Children and Youth, Cycle 7, 2006-2007. Custom Runs.
*Low Income Cut-offs (LICOs), the threshold is defined as the income below which a family is likely to spend 20 percentage points more of its income on food, shelter and clothing than the average family.
Implications
There are a number of barriers that preventing children living in low income face from participating in coached sports. These include cost, the time that their parents have to take them to activities, due to long work hours, and transportation.1,2
1Spinney, Jamie, and Hugh Millward. “Time and Money: A New Look at Poverty and the Barriers to Physical Activity in Canada.” Social Indicators Research, vol. 99, no. 2, 2010, pp. 341–356. www.jstor.org/stable/40927596
2BC Recreation and Parks Association and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of BC & Yukon. Why Don’t People Particpate? Everybody Active Information Sheet 4. http://www.physicalactivitystrategy.ca/pdfs/Why_Dont_People_Participate.pdf