Social Attachment Analysis

Children are molded by the experiences and mentors that they are surrounded with. There can be positive and negative influences that a child can experience in their key developmental years that can change their view points on life later on down the road. Many children participate in sports that can range from Little League Baseball, Pee Wee Football or marital arts or gymnastics classes. These sports and classes allows the children to develop social skills and friendships but also so much more. Children who participate in youth sports have positive effects on physical and mental health, mood, and social experiences. Still a large number of children battle with obesity even though they are involved in youth sports. There is also a large economic

Children not only are able to learn about these key values, they are exposed with how to deal with competition and how to cope with both winning and losing (Sport and Dev, 2017). All of these skills can be translated into skills and traits that are needed in the “adult-real-world.” Children who take part in contact sports are less likely to have a frequency of illegal behaviors (Davis & Menard, 2013). This is in agreement with Hirschi’s social control theory which explains that importance of having creating social attachments, belief, commitment, and social involvement (University of Minnesota, n.d.). Applying Hirschi’s social control theory it can be understood that the participation in sports can lead to increased levels of commitment which will translate to higher grades, placement in college prep courses, higher expectations and goals, and higher levels of education earned. The time commitment of sports will reduce the opportunities that an individual has to perform any delinquent acts. Sports increase children’s happiness allow them to have high self-esteem and low stress levels. Taking part in sports can have a reverse effect on children if there is too much pressure for them to perform. Self-inflicted pressure can result in low self-esteem and higher levels of stress (AZ Central, 2017). Sports should be an enjoyable

The estimated annual cost of youth sports equipment and participation in the United States is five billion dollars. Parents dish out large amounts of money for their children to take part in sports. Parents pay for the use of anything from the use of the practice facility, medical insurance, paying the coaches, equipment, and uniforms. The average cost for a child to partake in one season is three hundred and eighty-one dollars. Ice hockey and basketball are the most expensive sports for equipment in 2014 (University of Florida, 2015). Money plays a large factor into the participation of children in sports. If the parents cannot afford the growing cost of having their children partaking in sports, then the child will not partake and become a risk factor for a list of things. Children who live in urban and rural areas are least likely to participate in youth sports and suburban children are most likely to partake (Kelley & Carchia, 2013). There are twenty-five percent of high school girls from cities who have never participated in organized sports and fifty-nine percent of girls from single-family household are on the sidelines (Kelley & Carchia,