Deck 8: Youth and Sport Main Themes

Question 1

According to functionalist social theory, maintaining the social system as a whole and promoting a social value consensus and stability help to create a high degree of support for societal goals and cultural values.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Between 70 and 72 percent of all American and Canadian youth under the age of seventeen participate in organized sports between childhood and adolescence.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

In a study of over 1,400 boys and girls from the United States, New Zealand, and Australia, there were few cultural differences in the motivations to play sports between the participants in the three countries.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Both peer-play games and adult-organized sport emphasize opportunities for players to develop interpersonal skills and make decisions.

Question 5

Traits such as obedience and conformity are more apt to be developed in adult- organized sports programs than in peer-play sports.

Question 6

The arguments that occasionally occur in peer-play games are usually devoid of any learning experiences for the participants.

Question 7

The research on youth sport dropouts shows that most young athletes who drop out of adult-organized sports programs do not enjoy the emphasis on winning.

Question 8

In adult-organized sports, the strategy used by many youth sports coaches serves to control and limit action rather than stimulate it.

Question 9

Opportunities for girls to participate in youth sports programs originated at about the same time as opportunities for boys began.

Question 10

Socialization begins at birth and is completed at about age twenty.

Question 11

Parents who have been queried about their children's involvement in organized sports programs have generally shown a favorable attitude toward it.

Question 12

The president of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine has said that 60 percent of the athletes he operates on these days are high school age or younger.

Question 13

The steady flow of reports on the long-term effects of concussions and repeated head injuries in several sports has led public awareness to spike as parents, coaches, and medical experts now approach the injury with greater urgency.

Question 14

Many youngsters have become involved in "alternative sports" as a rejection of the norms and values of traditional youth sports.

Question 15

One of the main consequences of contemporary childhoods spent largely indoors watching TV and playing video games is an increase in obesity among youth.

Question 16

There is widespread consensus that acts of "incivility" between people have become more common in North American culture.

Question 17

Substantial research findings show that the slogan "sports builds character" is true.

Question 18

A perspective contends that the encroachment of adults into the world of young persons reduces the value of play as a spontaneous, expressive experience.

A) functionalist
B) interactionist
C) conflict/cultural
D) Marxist

Question 19

About percent of all American and Canadian youth under the age of seventeen participate in at least one organized sport.

A) 68
B) 40
C) 83
D) 34

Question 20

There are several distinct differences between peer-play games and adult-organized youth sports. Which of the following is a characteristic of peer-play sports?

A) Group stability is very high.
B) The same rule structure is used that is used in adult-organized youth sports.
C) Status is based on age combined with physical abilities.
D) There tends to be an authoritarian interpersonal structure.

Question 21

Player experiences differ in peer-play and in adult-organized youth sports programs. Which is most likely to be learned in adult-organized sports?

A) Knowledge of game rules
B) Decision-making skills
C) Interpersonal skills
D) How to choose sides to equalize the playing talent on the teams

Question 22

Studies of dropouts from adult-organized youth sports reveal that the majority of young athletes withdraw from participation because

A) injuries cut short their playing careers.
B) school assignments interfered with practices.
C) too much emphasis was placed on winning.
D) parents pressured them into quitting.

Question 23

In the compilation from various youth sport publications, the most important reason boys and girls play sport was

A) to stay in shape.
B) to be part of a team.
C) to improve skills.
D) to have fun.

Question 24

To protect young athletes from adult exploitation in sports,

A) a bill of rights for young athletes and fair play codes have been formulated.
B) congressional action has been taken with laws restricting certain coaching practices.
C) coaches are now required to become certified by each state and province.
D) each community must appoint a grievance commissioner.

Question 25

Child labor laws

A) prohibit youth sports coaches from practicing more than three hours per week.
B) have been enacted to apply to youth sports athletes in over thirty states.
C) have not been used in relation to young athletes.
D) regulate practice time, number of games, and length of seasons for most youth sports.

Question 26

Overall, there is a strong tendency for both males and females who have been involved in organized sports to

A) have more professionalized orientations toward sports than their peers.
B) consider playing fair the most important orientation to sports.
C) be willing to injure an opponent.
D) show higher moral reasoning than their peers.

Question 27

The types of sanctions typically used in spontaneous play are

A) formal and used for the preservation of order.
B) based on codified rules of conduct.
C) really not used at all.
D) self-imposed on a token basis or informally administered.

Question 28

One of the newest trends in youth sport organization is called

A) municipal recreation organization.
B) commercial business support.
C) traveling teams.
D) parental sponsorship teams.

Question 29

have become the ultimate in coaching and preparing young athletes whose parents strive for college scholarship, professional careers, and Olympic berths for their children.

A) Amateur Athletic Union sponsorships
B) Sports academies
C) Youth fitness centers
D) National Youth Sports Elite sponsorships

Question 30

Many youth sport organizations have adopted the as a guarantee to the young athletes and their parents that the athletes' development and welfare will be protected.

A) National Standards Test for youth
B) Amateur Athletic Union youth promotion standard
C) Bill of Rights for Young Athletes
D) Good Sportsmanship Badge

Question 31

A recent study of youth sports conducted by researchers from the universities of Missouri-St. Louis, Minnesota, and Notre Dame found that

A) less than 5 percent of the coaches had encouraged athletes to hurt an opponent.
B) over 30 percent of athletes reported having tried to hurt an opponent.
C) two in ten youth sport athletes admitted cheating.
D) All of the above

Question 32

Several suggestions were advanced in the textbook about desirable objectives for youth sports programs. Briefly describe several of these and explain why they are important objectives. Suggest at least two other objectives that you believe are essential for a youth sports program.

Question 33

Several social agents and agencies are typically responsible for guiding young people into sport involvement. Identify at least three of these and explain how and why they are important agents or agencies for socializing young people into organized sport.

Question 34

When participants in youth sports programs are asked what they like most about their sports experiences, what are the three or four things they typically list?

Question 35

When former participants in youth sports programs are asked why they discontinued their involvement in youth sports, what are the three or four things they typically list?

Question 36

Describe the important differences between peer-group sports and adult-organized sports, in terms of organization, process, impetus, social implications.

Question 37

Identify several of the sources contributing to the trend toward increasingly unsportsmanlike attitudes and behaviors in youth sports. Discuss the ways in which these sources contribute to this trend.

Question 38

There is overwhelming agreement that one of the major problems of youth sports is the intrusion of adults into the sports life of the young athletes. Identify and discuss several of the ways in which this adult intrusion is carried out.