Author(s): MORI, T., AOKI, T., OISHI, K., IKEUE, K., YAMAGUCHI, H., HANANO, H., YAMAMOTO, Y., HIROE, Y., ISHII, K., Institution: DOSHISHA UNIVERSITY, Country: JAPAN, Abstract-ID: 956

INTRODUCTION:
Relative age effect (RAE) explains that the relatively younger (those who were born later among the same grade) tend to have disadvantage in physique and player selection. Previous studies have reported that the relatively younger are underrepresented in professional sports. RAE is often seen in competitive sports, such as soccer and baseball. Conversely, opposite RAE has been reported in advantageous sports for petite athletes, such as table tennis. However, no study has examined RAE of adolescents’ participation in club activities. Therefore, we investigated the RAE of adolescent’s participation in club activities to clarify the clubs that the relatively younger are more likely to participate.
METHODS:
We targeted 18876 adolescents aged 10–18 years (10722 boys and 8154 girls from 76 schools in Japan) for the analysis. We obtained adolescent’s information about birth month and asked adolescents the kinds of club activities (school club activity, neighborhood group activity, or private lesson) they participate. Moreover, we categorized sports (soccer, basketball, tennis) and culture clubs (music, art, science). Furthermore, we focused on the popular descriptions of club activities. To examine the association between adolescent’s birth month and participation in club activities, we used logistic regression analysis by sex, adjusted for adolescent’s grade and body mass index.
RESULTS:
Relatively younger boys were less likely to participate in sports clubs (OR=0.98, p<0.01) but were more likely to participate in culture clubs (OR=1.02, p<0.05). However, no RAE was seen for girls’ sports and culture club activities. For the description of club activities, we showed that the relatively younger adolescents were less likely to participate in “soccer” (OR=0.98, p<0.05), “baseball” (OR=0.96, p<0.01), and “track and field”(OR=0.96, p<0.01) club activities but were more likely to participate in “table tennis” (OR=1.03, p<0.05), “badminton” (OR=1.04, p<0.05), “kendo (Japanese-style fencing)” (OR=1.04, p<0.05), and “science” (OR=1.05, p<0.05) club activities. Conversely, the relatively younger girls were less likely to participate in “Japanese archery” (OR=0.95, p<0.05) club activities but were more likely to participate in “tennis” (OR=1.04, p<0.01) club activities.
CONCLUSION:
Although RAE of adolescents’ participation in club activities certainly existed, it depended on the sports type. The relatively younger selected racket sports, which are activities favorable for them.
References
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2. Romann, M, Fuchslocher, J. The need to consider relative age effects in women’s talent development process. Percept Mot Skills. 2014;118: p651–62.