Abstract
Implicit and explicit gender associations can shape perceptions and behaviours in impactful ways, including parents’ youth sport decisions. Parental support and pressure play key roles in shaping youth sport experiences. This study examined the extent to which Canadian youth sport parents held implicit and explicit gender biases related to sport and whether these biases predicted support or pressure placed on their children. A secondary aim was to examine whether these relationships differed based on child’s gender. Two-hundred forty Canadian parents (Mage=45.56; 49.6% women) of boys and girls involved in youth sport completed an online survey that included demographic questions, measures of support and pressure in sport, one explicit gender-sport association question, and a Single-Category Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT) assessing implicit gender-sport associations. Parents reported significant explicit gender bias, with scores above the midpoint, indicating a stronger association between sport and men (M=6.94, range 1-10). In contrast, no significant implicit gender bias was observed based on SC-IAT scores. Regression analyses indicated that implicit gender bias interacted with child’s gender to predict parental behaviors. Parents who implicitly associated sport with boys reported less support for their daughters (b=-0.216, p =.048) and less pressure for their sons (b= -0.490, p= .038). Explicit bias did not significantly predict support or pressure. Findings suggest parents’ unconscious associations with sport may shape their behaviour toward their children in gendered ways. There is a need for continued efforts to promote girls’ sport participation as valued, helping shift broader cultural narratives around gender and sport.
