106 | Chapter 14 providing for a partner, and taking care of a child, which are likely to be of greater importance than sport-related roles and responsibilities. The social payoffs of existing sport activities will therefore diminish, and likely be traded off against career and family social needs (Van Houten et al., 2014, 2017). The reduction of temporal resources and increase of professional and social obligations that accompany the transition to adulthood induce people to reevaluate and seek for alternative ways to continue sport participation. One option could be to spend less time (slots) on sport, lowering the frequency of sport participation. Reducing sport frequency, however, might not be easily achieved, especially if sport involves social obligations to other sport participants (e.g., team members, opponents, and training partners) and regular participation is required, as in “heavy” club settings (Borgers et al., 2016a). Another opportunity, to reduce time investments in sport, would be to drop one or more sports. Consequently, we expect major life events to reduce the sport frequency and number of sports practised in young adulthood. Individuals who practise sport in “heavy” club settings also have the possibility to switch to sport in a “lighter” setting. These provide more individualised ways of practising sport and are less constrained by fixed schedules, fixed locations, and social expectations. Participants thus have more flexibility and autonomy and hence more opportunities to practise sport where, when, how often, and with whom suits their personal situation (Borgers et al., 2018; Borgers et al., 2016b; Pilgaard, 2013). Besides, switching to a “light” sport setting during the transition to adulthood might enable them to dedicate inferior time slots to sport (e.g., late or early hours, small time slots, or irregular slots). Finally, sport in “light” settings (except for practising sport alone) can be practisedmore easily with significant others, such as with one’s partner, child(ren), family members, and colleagues, maintaining the social payoffs of sport activities. So, we expect major life events to increase the odds of switching from practising sport in a club setting to practising sport in a “lighter” setting in young adulthood.
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