Özet:

The study aimed to explore the relationship between socioeconomic status and sport participation as a component of broader physical activity patterns in Maltese children. In light of generally low physical activity levels and high prevalence of adverse health outcomes like overweight and obesity in Malta by international standards, researchers and stakeholders have been keen to identify key operative factors and remedial long-term solutions. Trends towards low activity rates may also help to explain relative under-performance by Maltese athletes in international sports. With an interest in both sports performance and national health, therefore, a cross-sectional short survey was administered among a sample of mothers in relatively affluent Maltese households, to survey sports participation in their children as a function of household socioeconomic status, from a sociological perspective. A series of non-parametric statistical procedures were used to test a range of hypotheses that ultimately revealed significant effects of household income, parental educational level, and gender on children’s sports participation. Throughout the article, we develop the argument that small nations simply cannot afford application of further restrictions on the population pool from which potentially talented future sports performers may be drawn. More commitment is needed, in this sense, to concerted initiatives and policies designed to limit inequality of access to sport as a component of physical activity, along class, gender, or indeed any other lines.

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