Socio-economic inequalities in sport participation by sport and over time - a repeated cross-sectional study

Viviane Richard, Giovanni Piumatti, Nick Pullen, Elsa Lorthe, Idris Guessous, Nicola Cantoreggi, Silvia Stringhini.
Socioeconomic inequalities in sport participation: pattern per sport and time trends - a repeated cross-sectional study.BMC Public Health 2023 Apr 28; 23(1):785, doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-15650-7

Abstract

Background: Sport is an important component of a healthy lifestyle, most common among the privileged. However, few studies have examined the link between socio-demographic conditions and participation in sport by type of activity. The aim of this study was to quantify socio-economic inequalities in sports participation by type of sport and to analyse changes in these inequalities over 15 years.

Methods: We used data collected from 2005 to 2019 as part of the Bus Santé study, an annual cross-sectional survey based on the adult population of the canton of Geneva. Sporting activity was defined as reporting at least one sporting activity in the previous week; level of education, household income and occupational category were used as indicators of the socio-economic status of participants. Socioeconomic inequalities in sports participation and their evolution over time were examined using relative and absolute inequality indices (RII/SII).

Results: Of the 7769 participants (50.8% women, mean age 46), 60% reported taking part in a sporting activity. The greater the socio-economic resources, the greater the level of sporting activity; sporting activity was 1.78 times (RII = 1.78; 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.64-1.92) more frequent among participants with a high level of education than among those with a lower level of education/graduation/training, a difference of 33 percentage points (SII = 0.33; 95% CI: 0.29-0.37). Relative inequalities varied by sport, for example, 0.68 (95% CI: 0.44-1.07) for football and 4.25 (95% CI: 2.68-6.75) for tennis/badminton as a function of education. Annual absolute inequalities in sporting participation tended to increase between 2005 and 2019 as a function of household income, particularly among women and the elderly.

Conclusion: We have observed strong socio-economic inequalities in terms of sports participation in the canton of Geneva, the extent of which varies according to the type of sport. These inequalities appear to have increased over the period 2005-2019. Our results call for appropriate measures and targeted strategies to promote sport among the socio-economically less advantaged.

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