ABSTRACT
This study investigated the influence of parental opinion on sports participation among Human Kinetics students. It sought to determine the parents opinion as it affects the level of sports participation among Human Kinetics (HKS) students; attitudes and beliefs of parents affecting children’s sports participation; and parents demographic factors (gender, SES, education) predicting their opinion on students sports participation. To guide the study, three (3) research questions were raised out of which one (1) was hypothesized and tested at 0.05 level of significance.
The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population of the study was made up of all HKS students numbering 299 undergraduates. A sample size of 151 students were selected from the population using the simple random sampling technique to select 50 percent of students from each academic level. The research instrument for the study was a self-constructed questionnaire. The statistical analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics of frequency and percentage for their bio-data, mean and standard deviation was used in the data analysis of research questions 1 and 2, while inferential statistics of simple multiple regression statistics was used in testing hypothesis 1 in relation to research question 3. The formulated hypothesis tested was set at 0.05 alpha level.
The findings of this research based on the research questions raised and hypothesis formulated showed the following: parents encourage their wards sports participation, support it if it does not affect their academics, while on the other hand may discourage it due to safety concerns. parental attitudes and beliefs influences children’s decision to engage in sports participation .parents demographic factors (gender, SES, educational level) significantly predict their opinion on students sports participation; however SES was the highest predictor of parents opinion on students sports participation. Based on the research findings, it can be concluded that parents encourage students sports participation, their (parents) attitudes and beliefs go a long way in influencing children’s decision to engage in sports participation; and lastly, parents demographic factors (gender, SES, education) significantly predicted their opinion on students sports participation wherein SES was the highest predictor of parents opinion. From the findings of this study, the following recommendations were put forth; Parents should encourage their wards sports participation due to inherent benefits in it; the right attitude should be cultivated by parents towards sports as it can positively influence sports participation; parents should put in every efforts in ensuring their preferred sports irrespective of their SES, gender or educational level.
