Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to examine the negative factors influencing regular sport participation of middle-aged women. A case study was conducted by using face-to-face interviews in 1999 to 21 middle-aged married women, living in the Kansai District, and used 15 samples for this study. An integrative model that accounts for negative factors influencing sport participation of these women is applied to analyze the information obtained by interviews. The negative influences to the sport socialization was checked by focusing on three factors, such as 1) time factor, 2) gender-role and 3) pleasant and unpleasant experience and sport attitude which was formed through the experience. All cases are divided into two groups by the obtained information, persons who want to participate but cannot (we call them “the latents”) and persons who have no will or no interest on sport participation (we call them “the refusals”).
As a result, the following points were clarified.
First, the time factor influences the latents, but not the refusals.
Secondly, the influence of gender role was noticed on both groups. However there was no direct prohibition, indirect factors are strongly influential in sport-participation.
Thirdly, the difference between the latents and the refusals on pleasant and unpleasant experience and sport attitude which was formed through the experience became clear. The refusals had few positive experiences during school and latter life, and the negative experiences still have influence upon them.
