Sport as a Vehicle of Change for Livelihoods, Social Participation and Marital Health for the Youth: Findings from a Prospective Cohort in Bihar, India

"Evidence from India shows that sport can be an instrument supporting pro-social engagement for boys and girls."

Sport and other forms of active and voluntary social participation can be a means for adolescent development. For that reason, sport for youth engagement has received attention in policies in India, where adolescents represent 20% of the total population. Specifically, India's national adolescent strategy, Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK), emphasises peer-based learning and youth leadership as approaches that can build adolescent resiliency and improve health. This study examines the effects over time of sport engagement in adolescence on youth socioeconomic and health outcomes in Bihar, India.

The researchers analysed prospective data from unmarried adolescents (n = 2,322, ages 15-19) who participated in the Youth in India 2007-8 study (wave 1) and were followed in the Understanding the lives of Adolescents and Young Adults (Udaya) study 2015-16. The independent variable of interest, sport engagement (current), was assessed in the baseline survey in 2007 by asking: "Do you play any sports or games these days?" Outcomes assessed in wave 2 were economic engagement (vocational training, past year paid employment), social group participation, political participation, marriage (any and prior to 18), and among those married, marital violence (MV) and contraceptive use. The researchers used logistic and multinomial models to assess longitudinal associations between sport and the main outcomes, adjusting for age, residence, and wealth at baseline and secondary schooling completion at follow-up.

Overall, analyses showed positive but different effects of playing sport in adolescence for girls and boys, with effects on livelihoods and social participation for boys and girls, and effects on delayed marriage and contraceptive use for girls. Specifically:

• In multivariate models for boys, adolescent sport participation was associated with higher odds of vocational training [adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 1.92, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.17, 3.15], social programme engagement [AOR: 1.89, 95% CI: 1.14, 3.15], and a trend effect for political participation [AOR: 1.47, 95% CI: 0.97, 2.24]. Crude effects (not adjusted for secondary school, wealth, or age) were noted for delayed marriage, paid work, and perpetration of marital violence among males. Per the researchers, findings for boys on livelihoods and pro-social behaviour can be attributed to an emphasis on attributes of responsibility and team-play via sport. The data also point to a need for building early interventions that can socialise boys on gender equity in interpersonal relationships.
• Among girls, sport in adolescence was associated with lower child marriage [ARRR (absolute risk reduction) = 0.67, 95% CI: 0.48, 0.96], as well as higher vocational training [AOR = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.03, 1.16] and family planning use [AOR = 1.31, 95% CI: 1.05, 1.63]. The findings indicate an important role of secondary schooling, which may be one of the few avenues for girls' recreation. It is possible that the sport and games girls play do not necessarily challenge gender stereotypes, and girls may be engaging in curriculum-based routine participation sports in schools, which may explain some of the study's findings. Participation of girls in sport and how gender norms are shaped within sporting opportunities need further investigation. More broadly, the researchers suggest additional research on the gendered nature of participation (nature, type, duration, traditional league-based, or non-team) in sport-based youth programmes and how sport furthers or modifies prevalent gender norms.

The researchers note that a complex set of factors, including parental consent and resources, community infrastructure, and schooling, may set the gendered contexts within which adolescents live and participate in sports; it is likely that girls and boys participated in different types of sport. Future interventions could focus on changing norms among parents and elders in the community, who act as "gatekeepers" and make decisions on recreation participation, marriage, and livelihood choices of adolescents.

In conclusion: "This study from India showed evidence that sport can increase social participation and benefits for livelihoods among adolescents, and delay marriage and increasing contraceptive use among girls. Sport-based youth engagement programs can influence self-efficacy and prosocial values through bonding with peers and altering inequitable gender norms....[Y]outh development programs like the RKSK in India can create opportunities through sport to build agency and resiliency among young people."