Motives for competitive sports participation in masters track and field athletes: Impact of sociodemographic factors and competitive background

Facilitators and constraints to adult sports participation: A systematic review

Despite the well-documented health, social and economic benefits of sports participation, adults' participation in organised sport declines as age increases. To date, no review has summarised the multi-level factors that influence adults' decisions to participate in sport. Therefore, this systematic literature review aimed to: 1) determine the facilitators, constraints and negotiated constraints to adults' (25-64 years) sport participation, and 2) summarise these factors according to the multiple levels of the social-ecological model. A total of 91 articles were identified following an extensive literature search conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines. Studies were published over four decades (1983-2023), predominantly located in North America (n = 45; 49.5%), ranged from 5 to 10,646 participants, examined mainly middle-aged adults (Mrange = 35-44 years; n = 52; 48.6%), included more males (61.6%) than females (38.1%), and were conducted in primarily single sport contexts (n = 63; 69.2%). Overall, more unique facilitators (55 items) were identified than constraints (35 items) and negotiated constraints (13 items). The desire for improved health and enjoyment were the most frequently reported facilitators, and the main constraints were injury or illness and family commitments. Constraint negotiation strategies largely included individual (e.g., implementing financial strategies) and interpersonal factors (e.g., encouraging others to participate). This review highlighted the expansive multi-level factors that influence adults' sports participation, reiterated the complexity of developing appropriate sport offerings, and identified a lack of studies examining non-sport participants. Strategies to support adult sport participation should focus on enjoyment, consider co-designed sport modifications to alleviate perceived constraints and integrate behaviour change theory to foster positive sport participation habits.

Self-Determined Regulation, Achievement Goals and Sport Commitment in Spanish Masters Swimmers

This work analyses the motivational regulation, achievement goals and sport commitment of Spanish Masters swimmers, being the first study of its kind. A total of 211 (106 women and 105 men) Masters swimmers from the Federation of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain) aged between 20 and 74 participated. Each participant completed the Sport Motivation Scale (motivation regulation), the Achievement Goals Questionnaire for Sport (achievement goals) and the Sport Commitment Questionnaire (sport commitment), all validated for the Spanish population. A mixed rANOVA was performed to analyse the results, using sex and age group as covariates, and the different groupings of the sample (weekly training days, weekly training hours and practice of other sports) as between-participants factors. The results showed that the participants presented a predominantly intrinsic-integrated and identified regulation, rather than introjected and external regulation. Mastery goals were more prevalent than performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals. In addition, current sport commitment was high, being greater than future commitment. Pearson's correlation analysis showed moderate relationships between our variables. We found no influence of either the covariates of sex and age or the grouping variables. These findings serve as the basis for further study of the motivation of Masters swimmers in Spain.