Sports participation and the 'obesity/health crisis': Reflections on the case of young people in England
Affiliation
University College Chester ; University College Chester ; University of LiverpoolPublication Date
2004-12-01
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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. 457-464Publisher
SAGEAdditional Links
http://irs.sagepub.comType
ArticleLanguage
enDescription
This article is not available through ChesterRep.ISSN
1012-6902ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1177/1012690204049081