PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

This study investigates the role of regional and social origin in explaining health-related sport and physical activity levels of youths and adolescents in Europe. It uses a subsample of 15- to 29-year-olds from the 2017 Eurobarometer (n = 3499). The outcome variable reflects whether respondents meet/exceed the guidelines of the World Health Organisation for health-related sport and physical activity or not. Regional origin is captured by four different European regions. Social origin is measured by parental education, a household's difficulty paying bills, and the perceived social status of parents. The results show that young people in Southern and Eastern Europe are significantly less likely to meet the guidelines than those in Midwest Europe. While parental education is only a positive contributor in Midwest Europe, a household's financial resources only play a role in Eastern Europe. Perceived social status increases young people's likelihood of health-related sport and physical activity in all European regions except Eastern Europe. Collectively, the findings suggest that higher social origin facilitates health-related participation levels, while different factors are at work in different European regions. This study contributes to the literature by providing an international comparison of the role of social origin and by examining young people's health-related sport participation levels.