Lars Erik Espedalen

• Espedalen, Lars Erik & Strandbu, Åse (2023). Fotball, vafler, kioskvakt og dopapir : Minoritetsforeldres møter med norsk barne-og ungdomsidrett, Bevegelsesfellesskap i oppveksten : kritiske perspektiver på inkludering og mangfold. Fagbokforlaget. ISSN 9788245041415. p. 225–243. doi: 10.55669/oa230112.
• Espedalen, Lars Erik & Seippel, Ørnulf (2022). Dropout and social inequality: young people’s reasons for leaving organized sports. Annals of Leisure Research. ISSN 1174-5398. doi: 10.1080/11745398.2022.2070512. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Few quantitative studies have looked at how reasons for quitting organized sports vary according to social backgrounds. The present paper addresses this gap by investigating how youths’ perceptions of six reasons for dropping out of organized youth sports vary according to three types of social inequality: socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and gender. We utilize data from the 2015 Young in Oslo survey, where organized youth sport dropouts in grades 8–13 rated the importance of six reasons for dropping out (N = 2355, response rate = 72%). Two findings stand out. First, gender differences were subtle and often related to ethnicity; they were more pronounced among majority youths than minority youths. Second, well-resourced majority youths were more likely to consider a lack of sports skills and friends who quit as important to dropout while minority youths with less resources more often highlighted discouragement from parents and sport expenses.

• Persson, Marlene; Espedalen, Lars Erik; Stefansen, Kari & Strandbu, Åse (2019). Opting out of youth sports: how can we understand the social processes involved? Sport, Education and Society. ISSN 1357-3322. doi: 10.1080/13573322.2019.1663811. Show summary

  Sports researchers often examine the subject of youth quitting sports through quantitative surveys using fixed-choice questionnaires. In this paper, we analyze 1,248 descriptions offered by youth in the survey Young in Oslo 2018 when asked to explain why they had left organized sports. We examine their reasons for opting out of sports and how different reasons may interact. Similar to studies with fixed-choice questions, we found both sports-internal and sports-external reasons for quitting. Our main finding concerns how sports-internal and sports-external processes appear together and reinforce the challenges some youth experience in their day-to-day lives in terms of their sports participation.

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