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Navigating the circles of social life: understanding pathways to sport drop-out among French teenagers

ABSTRACT Sports practice is a way to be physically active. Despite public health efforts to support it, teenagers’ sport participation is declining in some European countries. One reason for the decline is drop-out from sports practice. Various analytical frameworks have been applied to this issue but little is known about how teenagers understand their own pathway in the social context, ending with a drop-out from sports practice. This study aimed to identify reasons given by teenagers about sports practice drop-out situated within the circles of their everyday lives, through 100 semi-structured interviews. The results made it possible to classify the reasons for dropping out into five themes: friendship, body, family, school, and sport. Two processes lead to drop-out: constraints which prevent access to the circle of sports practice and/or a decision-making that brings them out of it. The respondents could mention one or multiple reasons, accumulating (snowball effect) or following one another (cascade effect). Depending on the moment of drop-out, some circles of social life played a preponderant role. The family seemed to be central in the decision to drop out during primary school, whereas sport itself and school were influential in middle and high schools respectively. The results showed that the more recent the drop-out, the more the teenagers planned to resume sports practice. These data are relevant for health education policies to prevent physical inactivity through sport. It is important not only to remove the constraints that prevent access to the circle of sports practice, but also to promote the most pleasurable sports experiences.