Scottish Government

3. Detailed Results

3.1 Participation in Sport

Adults were asked a number of questions to establish what sports they had taken part in recently and over the longer term and to identify overall levels of sport participation.

3.1.1 Participation in sport in the last 4 weeks

Figure 1 shows recent sport participating for adults. Recent participation is that undertaken in the 4 weeks prior to being interviewed for the survey.

Just over half (51%) of adults had recently participated in at least one type of sport, excluding walking for 30 minutes at a time. This rose to 74% adults when walking was included.

Apart from walking for 30+ minutes (62%), the most common sports that people had recently undertaken were swimming (15%), multi-gym / weight training, keep fit / aerobics and cycling for 30+ minutes (8% each), dancing, golf and football (7% each), hillwalking and running / jogging (5% each), snooker / billiards (4%) and bowls (3%).

The fact that 21% of adults had participated in one or more sports other than those most frequently cited highlights that people are participating in a relatively diverse range of sporting activities.

Figure 1

Adults aged 16+; Multiple responses applicable.
Bases (weighted): 3381 for walking & cycling; 3379 otherwise
Bases (unweighted): 3355 for walking & cycling; 3354 otherwise
Note: Swimming included swimming in leisure pools, traditional pools, indoor and outdoor pools; football included 5-aside, 11-aside, indoor and outdoor and informal playing in the street or park; bowls included indoor and outdoor bowls.

3.1.2 Participation in sport in the last year

Respondents were also asked about their participation in sport over the longer term (that is, in the last year). A total of 80% of adults had done at least one type of sport (excluding walking) in the last year.

When specifically considering sport done in the last year, but not including that done recently, 46% of adults had undertaken one or more sports (excluding walking and cycling) in the previous year which they had not also done in the previous 4 weeks. The most commonly cited sports done in the last year but not more recently were swimming (particularly "leisure swimming"), hillwalking, snooker / billiards, multi-gym / weight training, football, ten pin bowling, dancing and keep fit aerobics. Some of this is likely to reflect seasonal variation in participation. It might also reflect occasional participation for leisure (for example, in ten pin bowling).

3.1.3 Who participated in sport?

Of those adults who did any sport (excluding those who walked for more than 30 minutes at a time, but had not done any other sports) in the last 4 weeks, participation levels decreased with increasing age (ranging from 70% of 16-24 year olds to 22% of those aged 75+ years). Men were also more likely than women to have recently participated in sport (60% men compared to 44% women).

Table 1: Recent Participation in Sport by Age and Gender

Adults aged 16+; Multiple responses applicable.

Participation levels in particular sports also varied by age and gender. Of the most frequently cited sports, golf and bowls were most common amongst the older age groups. Dancing, swimming and keep fit / aerobics were more common amongst women, whilst the remainder of the most commonly cited sports were more common amongst men. Participation in walking decreased with increasing age, but despite this relatively high proportions of the oldest age groups had recently walked for 30+ minutes at a time (41% of those aged 75+ years and 57% of those aged 60-74 years).

Table 2: Recent Participation in the Most Common Sports by Age and Gender

Adults aged 16+; Multiple responses applicable.

Living in different types of rural and urban settings did not appear to be related to sport participation levels, but it did seem to have some effect on whether or not adults had recently walked for 30+ minutes - with those living in remote areas being more likely to have walked than those living elsewhere (Table 3).

Adults from the most deprived SIMD areas had notably lower rates of recent participation in sport (40%) than those living in the least deprived areas (59%). In addition to this, a smaller proportion of those with no access to a car appeared to be regularly taking part in sport (35% with no car compared with 63% with 2 cars had recently participated in sport). Car ownership is related to deprivation, so these similarities are not surprising (46% living in the most deprived areas compared to 11% in the least deprived areas had no access to a car).

Similar relationships are observed between frequency of recent walking for 30+ minutes and area deprivation / car ownership. It is perhaps surprising that those with no access to a car are less likely to be regularly walking, but may be a reflection on perceived safety and accessibility to local amenities of those living in deprived neighbourhoods.

Table 3: Recent Participation in Sport by Urban / Rural Classification, Area Deprivation and Car Ownership

Adults aged 16+; Multiple responses applicable.

Health status also appeared to be related to participation in sport and walking for 30+ minutes. Adults with any type of long term condition or disability were less likely to report having recently done any sport than those with no long term condition or disability (for example, 16% of those with a long term health condition as well as a disability compared to 58% of those with neither a long term condition nor disability reported having done any sport in the last 4 weeks). Similarly, adults who described their own health as "not good" were also less likely to have recently participated in sport (21%) than those who described their health as "good" (61%).

Similar patterns are observed for recent walking for 30+ minutes, although a relatively higher proportion of those with health problems reported having walked compared to those reporting sport participation.

Table 4: Recent Participation in Sport by Health Status

Adults aged 16+; Multiple responses applicable.

3.1.4 Tuition Received, Competitions and Club Membership

Of those who had done any sport (excluding walking) in the last year, 25% reported that they had received one or more types of sport tuition in the last year.

The most common types of tuition received by this group were for keep fit / aerobics (22%), "other" types of sport not presented on the list of around 50 sports supplied to respondents (17%), use of the multi-gym / weights (16%), golf (13%), yoga / pilates (12%), dancing (8%), football, swimming and horse-riding (4% each), martial arts, athletics, skiing / snowboarding and badminton (3% each).

These responses highlight those sports that would be expected to often require a tutor or instructor to participate, such as for example keep fit / aerobics, yoga / pilates and dancing. The fact that a relatively high proportion said they had had tuition in a sport or sports other than those listed again points to participation in a diverse range of sports.

Of those who had done any sport (excluding walking) in the last year, 22% reported that they had taken part in one or more sport competitions in the last year.

Amongst this group, the most common types of competition were walking competitions (28%). It seems likely that events such as charity walks were included in responses to this question, although the question does specify "organised competitions". The next most commonly cited types of sport competition were golf (24%), football (14%), bowls (13%), running / jogging (8%), snooker / billiards (4%), fishing / angling (4%), rugby (3%) and curling, cycling and hockey (2% each).

Of those who had done any sport (excluding walking) in the last year, 28% reported that they were a member of one or more sport clubs.

The most common types of sports club membership amongst this group were golf (27%), gym (23%), keep fit / aerobics (16%), bowls (13%), swimming (12%), football (8%), dancing (6%), snooker / billiards (5%), fishing / angling (4%) and badminton (3%).

These responses highlight sports that would be expected to often require club membership to participate: for example, most adults that had recently played golf or used a multi-gym were members of a golf club or gym respectively.

3.1.5 Volunteering

When asked about voluntary work, 21% of adults said that they had done some sort of volunteering in the last year. Within this, 4% of adults had undertaken sport-related volunteering in the last year.

Half (51%) of adults who had done sport-related volunteering said that this had involved coaching, 43% said it involved helping to run a sport organisation or club, 22% said that their volunteering involved officiating and 20% said that their volunteering involved something else.

3.2 Motivations to Participate in Sport

3.2.1 Reasons for participation in sport

Adults who had reported taking part in any sport (including walking) in the last 4 weeks were asked what their reasons for doing so were in relation to a particular sport undertaken.

Figure 2 shows the frequency of responses to this question. The most commonly cited reason for recently participating in sport was "just enjoy it" (52%), followed by keeping fit (42%), meeting with friends (16%) and to take children (11%). Note that "don't know" and missing / invalid responses were received from a relatively high proportion of respondents (7%), which is perhaps an indication that people found it difficult to articulate through this question why they did sport.

Figure 2

Adults aged 16+, who reported having done any sport (including walking) in the last 4 weeks; Multiple responses applicable.
Bases (weighted): 2509
Bases (unweighted): 2491
[ Note 1: Grouped reasons for participation relate to a variety of different types of sport. ]
[ Note 2: Missing / invalid responses had not been fully coded for this question. It was therefore assumed that the discrepancy between those giving a valid response and those having participated in sport including walking were missing or invalid responses. These cases are included in the bases used to calculate percentages.]

3.2.2 Reasons for non-participation in sport

Adults who had not participated in any sport in the last year and / or had not walked or cycled for 30+ minutes in the last 4 weeks were asked for their reasons.

Figure 3 shows adults' reasons for not recently participating in sport. The most common reason was poor health (51%), followed by not really being interested (22%) and finding it difficult to find the time (16%). Very small numbers of respondents agreed that the other reasons for non-participation presented to them were applicable in their case.

Figure 3

Adults aged 16+, who reported not having done any sport (including walking) in the last 4 weeks; Multiple responses applicable.
Bases (weighted): 668
Bases (unweighted): 724
[ Note 1: Missing / invalid responses had not been fully coded for this question. It was therefore assumed that the discrepancy between those giving a valid response and those having participated in sport including walking were missing or invalid responses. These cases are included in the bases used to calculate percentages.]

3.2.3 Factors that would encourage more participation in sport

Adults who had done any sport in the last year and / or walking or cycling for 30+ minutes in the last 4 weeks and also said that they would like to do more sport were asked what factors would encourage them to participate more often.

Of the factors that might encourage sport participation presented to respondents, the most commonly cited was "people to go with" (19%), followed by cheaper admission (14%), longer opening hours (9%) and help with childcare such as crèche facilities (6%).

However, the majority (55%) of respondents gave a factor that would encourage them to participate more often in sport other than one of the reasons on the list provided to them. It is not possible from the data available to analyse this further.

Figure 4

Adults who had done any sport (excluding walking) in the last 4 weeks and also said that they would like to do more sport; Multiple responses applicable.
Bases (weighted): 1449
Bases (unweighted): 1328

3.2.4 Childhood experience of sport

Adults who said that they were encouraged to take part in sport as a child were more likely to have recently participated in sport than those who were not encouraged as a child (63% who were encouraged a lot compared with 37% who were not encouraged at all). Also, those who said that they had been taken to watch sports as a child were more likely to have recently participated as an adult (66% of those who were very often taken to watch sports as a child compared to 42% of those who were not taken at all).

Table 5

Adults aged 16+.

Table 6

Adults aged 16+.

These results suggest that adult sport participation is strongly linked to childhood experience of sport - and highlight the importance of encouraging and enabling children and young people to participate in sport.

3.2.5 Use of sport websites

When asked about internet use in the last year, 18% of adults said that they had used sport-related websites. The most common main reason for doing so was to find out about or order tickets for sporting events (30%), followed by finding out about sport facilities in the local area (21%). Almost half (49%) of respondents said that they consulted sport-related websites for some other reason. However, it is not possible from the data available to analyse this further.

3.3 Local Sports Facilities

The questions on sports facilities relate only to "local" facilities (defined as accessible on foot or by public transport in under 20 minutes from the home).

In most cases, adults reported that there was a local sports hall or gym (78%), outdoor sports pitch (74%) or swimming pool (77%) in their vicinity. However, use of these local facilities was relatively low:

• 30% of those who said there was a local sports hall or gym said that they had used it in the last year
• 13% of those who said there was a local outdoor pitch said that they had used it in the last year
• 34% of those who said that there was a local swimming pool said that they had used it in the last year

However, amongst those who had used local sports facilities in the last year, most were positive about the quality of these facilities:

• 91% of those who had used local sports halls or gyms rated them "good", 8% "poor"
• 80% of those who had used local outdoor sports pitches rated them "good", 19% "poor"
• 90% of those who had used local swimming pools rated them "good", 10% "poor"

The least positive ratings were for outdoor sports pitches, which also had the lowest use.

3.4 Attendance at Live Sporting Events

When asked about attendance at live sporting events, 12% of adults reported that they had been spectators at live sporting events in the last 4 weeks. Amongst this group, 47% had attended one event, 21% two events, 12% three events and 14% four events. The remainder (6%) had attended five or more events in the last 4 weeks.

The most common sporting event attended was a live football match (67%), followed by rugby (7%), athletics (3%), ice hockey and tennis (1% each).

The question used did not give respondents the option to report attendance at any other type of sports events. As a result, valid responses were not recorded for 21% of adults who said that they had attended a live sporting event in the last 4 weeks. It is assumed that these adults would have cited another type of sporting event.