Abstract
In adolescence, girls report lower perceptions of sport enjoyment and commitment, and are more likely to withdraw from sport compared to boys. Recent findings with adolescent girls suggest that negative body-related emotions may predict the gender disparity in sport. Specifically, greater body-related shame, guilt, and envy, and lower pride are related to lower sport enjoyment and commitment. As the extant literature focuses on the sport experiences of female athletes, the body-related experiences of girls who withdraw from sport are not well understood. The present study purposefully sampled adolescent girls (N = 12) who withdrew from sport for body and weight-related reasons and utilized individual semi-structured interviews to explore girls' sport experiences and disengagement. A thematic analysis was used to analyze the data, whereby seven main themes emerged. Girls described a culture of "body talk" that was normative; how body-consciousness leads to compensatory behaviours (i.e., dieting, exercise, covering up); how sport promotes appearance and fitness-related social comparisons; the differential presentations of body-consciousness in social vs. sport contexts; how negative evaluations of appearance influence perceptions of competence in sport; the detrimental nature of evaluation and competition in sport; and how enjoyment of sport is impacted by social influences in and out of sport context. Overall, negative body-related experiences in sport were key contributors to disengagement and providers of support (e.g., coaches, teammates) contributed to experiences of body consciousness. Strategies to improve sport outcomes for adolescent girls should focus on reducing negative body-related emotions and targeting negative weight-related commentary.Acknowledgments: This study was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.