The influential factors on parental behaviour on their sports-performing children in different socio-economic backgrounds

Parental behaviour towards children in youth sports impacts the enjoyment children have for that sport and can be an incentive for children to continue practicing sports. Parents have interest in their children practicing sports, for them to stay healthy. The research question in this study was: to what extent does socio-economic status influence parents in their behaviour towards youth sports? The question was aimed to be answered through 15 exploratory interviews with three overarching topics were treated during interviews, namely the parental roles, their parenting style and influencing factors, including personal, social, and environmental/contextual factors. This thesis aimed to create a first vision on the topic of parental behaviour in youth sports with relation to their socio-economic background. The results showed that every parent believe that the behaviour is important and acts accordingly, but the sample was too homogenic to draw conclusions based on the socio-economic background. Small differences were found in the freedom of personal factors and the value that high socio-economic oriented parents mentioned about the positive intention of their children during sports