Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Document Type

Thesis

Date Created

5-1-2022

Department

College of Natural and Health Sciences, Kinesiology Nutrition and Dietetics, KiND Student Work

Abstract

Parental involvement has been shown to be the single most important factor in determining a child’s successful participation in youth sport. Parents may be required to provide financial, emotional, and physical support. However, this involvement from parents can require significant sacrifice. Youth sports can provide children with many developmental benefits such as increases in physical, cognitive, and emotional well-being. A reason that parents may enroll their children into youth sport programs are the beliefs they maintain about the positive developmental benefits that children may obtain from participation in youth sports programs. The capacity to give this opportunity to their child(ren) may, in turn, make parents feel proud. The Junior Lifeguard (JG) program is a distinctive program that utilizes a unique environment which offers children opportunities for cognitive, physical, and emotional development. The purpose of this study was to explore the nature of parents’ pride in their child(ren)’s participation in the JG program. Surveys were distributed to JG parents and thematic analyses were done to determine themes that emerged from the parents’ responses. The results revealed an overarching theme of ‘Opportunity’ and two subthemes of ‘Development’ and ‘Community’. Parents felt proud for being able to provide their children with developmental opportunities through enrolling and supporting their children in the JG program.

Rights Statement

Copyright is held by the author.

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