Rylee A. Dionigi

Sport participation and positive development in older persons

In many Western countries, more and more people are living longer. As part of this demographic shift, increasing numbers are participating in Masters sport. In the past, sport was considered important for the development of young people; however, the potential for sport participation to affect positive development across the lifespan is now recognized. The purpose of this paper is to introduce conceptual frameworks from developmental psychology that are being used to understand youths’ positive development through sport, and to explore these frameworks in the context of sport as an avenue for positive development in older persons. To achieve this aim, we outline research on sport participation as it applies to youth development and consider relevant aspects as they broadly apply to development later in life. This discussion highlights the inherent paradox of sport participation—that it has the potential to provide considerable positive growth but also the potential for significant negative consequences. Finally, we explore areas of future research related to positive development in older persons through sport.

Negotiations of the ageing process: older adults' stories of sports participation

The purpose of this paper is to examine the talk of older athletes, with particular focus on how the context of sport helps them negotiate the ageing process. It draws on personal stories provided by 44 World Masters Games competitors (23 women; 21 men; aged 56–90 years; M = 72). Four themes emerged: ‘Theres no such thing as old’ (a story of avoiding old age); ‘Keep moving’ (a story of fighting the ageing process); ‘Fun, fitness, friendship … [and] competing’ (a story of redefining self and ‘old age’) and; ‘Making the most of your life … with the capabilities that you still have’ (a story of adaptation and acceptance). Together, the four themes show how through sports participation older individuals can simultaneously resist, redefine and accept the ageing process. These stories of a ‘sporting later life’ allow for alternative meanings to the dominant ‘declining body’ narrative of ageing. Therefore, these narratives present the possibility for personal, pedagogical and social transformation.

The nature of family influences on sport participation in Masters athletes

Abstract The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the nature and source of family influences on sport participation in Masters athletes of varying skill and training commitment levels (from recreational to elite competitors). Participants were 14 married adults (nine men and five women) aged 46–61 years (M=50) from Ontario, Canada. Ten from the group had teenaged or university-aged children. Semi-structured interviews were aimed at understanding the role of family members in the athletes’ sport involvement, the athletes’ experiences of family support, absence of support, and family conflicts. Key themes in the data were: spousal (and childrens) support by ‘allowing’ (i.e. not questioning or complaining about sport participation); scheduling (as a source of, and to avoid, conflict) with spouse; spouses (and parent/children) training together/training separately; and the indirect influence of children. This study shows that both positive and negative forms of family support can be negotiated to allow for ongoing sport participation in mid-later life. It brings together insights from research on the leisure constraints negotiation process, family and leisure participation, gender issues in leisure, and social support in sport and physical activity contexts.

The Competitive Older Athlete: A Review of Psychosocial and Sociological Issues

This review focuses on works that examine the participation of older people in sport from a critical social science perspective. It reveals how, on the one hand, sport can provide many benefits for participants, but on the other hand it also creates psychosocial and sociocultural issues for older participants that need to be managed by society, individuals working with older people and older people themselves. The author argues that while sport should be made available to older people, participation in sport should not be an expectation for all as we age because of access, equity and personal issues.

How do Older Masters Athletes Account for their Performance Preservation? A Qualitative Analysis

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine how older people make sense of their capacity to maintain sports performance. Performance maintenance is predominantly examined from a quantitative perspective, with little attention given to how people themselves account for it. We interviewed 44 competitors (23 females, 21 males) from the 2009 Sydney World Masters Games (aged 56–90 years; mean = 72 years). The major themes were: ‘Use it or lose it’ (performance preservation required specific ‘training’ and the continuation of general physical activity); ‘Adapt’/‘modify’ (participants compensated for their decline in speed, strength and endurance so they could continue competing in sport); ‘Its in my genes’ (participants attributed their ‘family history’ and/or innate ‘determination’ to performance maintenance); and ‘I like to push myself’ (participants valued improved performance, pushing their bodies and winning which motivated them to continually train and compete). The findings are discussed within a framework of three key performance maintenance theories: (a) preserved differentiation, (b) selective maintenance and (c) compensation. Although compensation and continued training are effective ways to counter decline in later life, this study extends past research by showing how older athletes tend to combine and/or generalise stable and unstable attributes of performance preservation. In particular, this research highlights the importance individuals and Western society place on self-responsibility for health, competition and performance maintenance, which act as key motivating factors.

Is sport good for older adults? A systematic review of psychosocial outcomes of older adults’ sport participation

ABSTRACT Although sport is promoted as a vehicle to enhance health and well-being throughout the life course, little is known about the psychosocial benefits and costs associated with sport participation in older adulthood. A mixed studies systematic review of English-language, peer-reviewed, original research articles (from the earliest record until March 2015) was undertaken to identify psychosocial outcomes of sport for adults over age 65 and to determine whether sport provides psychosocial outcomes that are distinct from other forms of physical activity. Results suggest sport involvement later in life was related to ageing, cognitive/perceptual, emotional, social, and motivational outcomes but it remains unclear whether these effects were solely related to participation in sport. Additional work with increased attention to methodological design and participant recruitment is needed to better understand psychosocial outcomes of older adults’ sport participation and to inform potential interventions. Recommendations to enhance the quality of future studies in the area are discussed.

The world turned upside down: sport, policy and ageing

ABSTRACT Sport as social policy has reached a peculiar and somewhat paradoxical crossroads. Historically, sport has generally been seen as healthy for young people but ill-advised for older people. However, in the context of the twenty-first century’s ‘obesity epidemic’, the rising ‘risk’ of lifestyle diseases and ageing populations, some scholars suggest that competitive and vigorous sports may not be the right kind of physical activity for young people because, they argue, it is not something they will be able to keep doing in later life. As a result, they argue that young people should be introduced to moderate intensity ‘lifestyle’ activities like walking and going to the gym which will hopefully improve their health and protect them from weight gain and ill-health as they age. At the same time, enthusiasm for sport participation as a policy setting to help older people maintain their independence and improve their general quality of life is growing. Sport participation also appears to be on the rise among older people and, as our research suggests, is becoming understood as a more ‘normal’ part of the ageing process in Western countries. In this article, we offer examples of these rhetorical shifts and argue that, as ever, sport emerges as an endlessly flexible discursive policy resource.

The normalization of sport for older people

ABSTRACT Opportunities for older adults in Western countries, particularly women, to participate in physically demanding, competitive sports have increased since the 1960s. Now, coinciding with the neoliberal shift in social policy, older adults live at a time when physical activity is highly encouraged through ‘healthy or active ageing’ discourses in media, policy policies and the sport/exercise sciences. This study sought to understand how 63 Masters athletes (aged 60 and over) explain their participation in sport and, in particular, the extent to which they use neoliberal language of personal moral responsibility and economic efficiency to explain their own participation and the non-participation of older adults in sport. While degrees of moral talk were evident in the older athlete responses, in almost all cases, non-participation in sport was seen as irrational and in need of explanation. Overall, our findings suggest that older people’s participation in sport has been, or at least is in the process of being, normalized among participants in Masters sport. We discuss how this changing idea about sport and ageing might reshape social policy, as well as social relationships, between older people and the state and between different groups of older people.

Masters Athletes: Exemplars of Successful Aging?

Global population aging has raised academic interest in successful aging to a public policy priority. Currently there is no consensus regarding the definition of successful aging. However, a synthesis of research shows successful aging can be defined as a late-life process of change characterized by high physical, psychological, cognitive, and social functioning. Masters athletes systematically train for, and compete in, organized forms of team and individual sport specifically designed for older adults. Masters athletes are often proposed as exemplars of successful aging. However, their aging status has never been examined using a comprehensive multidimensional successful aging definition. Here, we examine the successful aging literature, propose a successful aging definition based on this literature, present evidence which suggests masters athletes could be considered exemplars of successful aging according to the proposed definition, and list future experimental research directions.

A qualitative investigation of exercising with MS and the impact on the spousal relationship

BackgroundMultiple Sclerosis is an autoimmune disease that affects more than 2.3 million people around the world. Symptoms are numerous and varied, often having a profound effect on activities of daily living. While for many years individuals with MS were told to avoid exercise for fear of worsening their symptoms, recent research has emphasized the multi-faceted benefits associated with regular physical activity. Given the strain that MS can put on family and interpersonal relationships, the intention of this study was to investigate the exercise experiences of individuals with MS and the extent to which these experiences affect, or are affected by, their spousal relationship.MethodsIn-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 10 individuals, five with MS, along with each of their spouses, in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of living and exercising with the disease. An inductive approach was used to analyze the interview data.ResultsThe results displayed the important physical, psychological, and social benefits of involvement in an exercise program. Spouses help to counteract barriers and facilitate exercise, and are well aware of the integral role they play in their partner’s health and well-being. Spouses also valued the increased independence they gained, in the form of reduced care-giving responsibilities and enhanced social opportunities, as a result of the improved physical function of their partner. These findings contrast the severe strain on spousal relationships that is often reported in studies on people living with MS.ConclusionsRather than an inexorable downward decline in physical ability that is common with MS, participants spoke of a positive reversal in physical function, which has had far-reaching implications for multiple aspects of their lives, including their psychological outlook, their sense of independence, overcoming isolation, and their relationship with their spouse, all of which are identified in the literature as notable aspects of life affected by the disease.