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Of the 30 respondents from the younger generation, an upsurge in the number of participants who were heavily involved in sport (23 in contrast to the older generation’s figure of 18) served as the only change apparent between the demographic groups. This increase is perhaps attributable to a deeper societal understanding of the physical, emotional and social benefits of sporting participation, corresponding with greater exposure via media networks to the perils of rising obesity levels. Resultant implications may have seen more parents endorsing sport involvement not only in response to such exposure, but through a desire to promote their child’s social interaction. In a generation where technological advancements enabled greater access to game consoles and simulated computer activities, this desire possibly reflected heightened parental concern for children’s leisure time: generally becoming imbalanced from attachment to these increasingly popular devices.
Nevertheless, the trend where higher quality parent-child relationships fostered a greater extent of intrinsic motivation, and that of a lesser quality provoked more extrinsically motivated individuals was still evident.
Upon closer inspection of both graphs, the fact that relationship quality fluctuates considerably in a general positive trend can be explained in terms of individual circumstances, when acknowledging this value to encompass both parents. If the relationship between the child and each parent had have been explored, an enhanced accuracy of the findings would have ensued since a supreme quality relationship with one parent could nullify the effects of a poor relationship with the other. For example, participant number 21 of the younger generation may have held an ‘excellent’ relationship with their mother during childhood, yet sustained a ‘poor’ relationship with his/her father. Thus, in giving a value relative to their relationship with both parents, he/she perhaps chose a median of 3. However according to the data, this individual is quite intrinsically motivated, which could have been fostered through the strong relationship (and presumably encouragement and support) from his/her mother. Hence, their willingness to engage in all 7 sporting activities on the motivational continuum could be more thoroughly apprehended (as could each individual’s response) when separate parent-child relationships are considered.
Rather contrary results were obtained from those whom were not heavily involved in sport during childhood, for not only did the relationship quality oscillate markedly, but as the number of sporting activities chosen on the motivational continuum increased, the relationship quality gradually decreased. These findings elucidate that if children are not socialised into an environment where sport is valued or a traditional aspect of family life (which requires some form of consent and support from parents), their level of intrinsic or extrinsic motivation in sporting contexts manifests itself independent of relationship quality.
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