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Gender and Parental Attitudes

I am doing a research paper on the influence parents have on the involvement, commitment and success of youth in organized sports. I would like to know if you have any information as the whether gender makes any difference to attitudes (i.e. pressure or expectations) of parents on the athlete. Also, do girls feel more pressure to be equal with boys in organized sports, in order to be recognized? Thanks for any information you can give me.

Prior to 1971 (pre Title IX) the number of boys participating in high school sports nationally was 3,666,917 compared to just 294,015 girls (from the 1995 National Federation of State High School Association).

In 1994-95, the number of boy participants remained about the same; 3,536,359. But the number of girls playing sports had skyrocketed to 2,240,461. With the increase in female participation came a large number of highly competitive parents with huge expectations for their daughters.

Prior to 1971, most parents of young female athletes had little interest in athletic careers or athletic opportunities for their daughters. Parents of boys typically have had high expectations of their sons. This parental involvement in boys sports started after the war (WWII) with the startup of organized sports, Little League baseball in particular.

Over the years college scholarships became more and more important and professional salaries were increasing dramatically. As a result parents became very demanding of their sons. Not so for girls from 1945-1971. Prior to 1971 there weren't many girls sports at the high school level and there were practically none at the organized youth sport level. As a result, expectations were minimal and parents didn't pressure their girls to participate or to excel in the few sports available. The opportunities just weren't there for girls in large numbers.

From my observations that all changed when girls started playing sports in high school in 1971 and the years that followed. These days schools are required to offer an equal number of sports programs to boys and girls. Most college have top level sports programs and recruit girls as well as boys.

Now both boys and girls are under extreme pressure to excel, to win a scholarship and hopefully sign a lucrative professional contract.

I don't believe that girls feel pressured to any significant extent to compete equally with boys for recognition or for status, nor do their parents expect that. This is because there are so many sports opportunities available now for females to compete against other females and the recognition or rewards are big and getting bigger.

Girls do however have considerable pressure on them to excel against opponents of their own sex because of these new opportunities that have become available and the attraction of a big money payday the high revenue sports represent. Female tennis players, for example are pushed just as hard by their parents as the male counterparts. This pressure can be from either parent, mom or dad. We've all heard about Mary Pierce's problems with her highly competitive, aggressive and combative father.

Demanding, even abusive, parents are everywhere in youth sports today. They are there in both male and female competitive events.

I believe, as a general rule, at the youth sport level (about ages 6-12) boys are more wrapped up or concerned with winning and are more concerned about losing than girls. Girls usually want to play a sport for the fun and the social interactions that it provides and don't "suffer" as much as boys do with losing. As a result there may be a little less inherent pressure (not parent imposed) for the girls who play a sport. But too many parents today make a youngster's  youth sport experience a high pressure, win at all cost event. Fun and total participation are fast disappearing from the youth sports scene for both boys and girls. Unfortunately the parents and the coaches are usually the root cause of the trouble.

Most of this is my opinion which is based on observations and personal experiences from more than 50 years of coaching boys and girls. I hope that it helps to answer your question. Good luck in your research. Get back to me if I can clarify anything or if I should add something that you think is pertinent.