2 | 63 A new life stage, a new sport activity? Starting a competitive club sport We performed a multinomial logistic event history analysis on the odds of starting a sport in a competitive club setting versus starting a sport in a recreational club setting, in some other formal organisational form, on an informal basis and not starting a sport at all. Table 2.3 presents the results for the odds of starting a competitive club sport versus starting a sport on an informal basis (alone and with friends or family). We present and discuss only the results related to this comparison, as it offered the largest contrast. The complete results are provided in Table A2 in the Appendix. The results show that starting a paid job was not significantly associated with starting a sport in a competitive club setting compared to starting a sport on an informal basis. Moving out to live on one’s own did, however, have a positive effect (Exp(B)=1.241). The odds of starting a competitive club sport versus starting a sport on an informal basis were 24.1% higher in years that respondents moved out, including the anticipatory and knock-on years, compared to years in which this life event did not occur. As expected, the odds of starting a sport in a competitive club setting instead of an informal setting were lower (30.9%) when respondents started to cohabit or got married, compared to the years in which respondents did not experience this transition (Exp(B)=0.691). Having a first child and children leaving home did not significantly relate to starting a sport in a competitive club setting versus an informal setting. Finally, retirement, in line with our expectation, was positively associated (Exp(B)=1.815) with starting a sport practised in a competitive club setting rather than starting a sport on an informal basis. The odds of choosing a competitive club sport increased by 81.5% when respondents retired, compared to the years in which this life event did not occur.3 Regarding the control variables, the number of sports that a person already participated in proved to be the most relevant. For each sport practised, the odds of starting a sport in a competitive club setting (compared with on an informal basis) dropped by 4.4% (Exp(B)=0.956). Sport participation in youth, however, was associated positively with starting a sport in a competitive club (Exp(B)=1.337). The odds of starting a competitive club sport rather than starting a sport on an informal basis, were 33.7% higher for respondents who had taken part in sport as a child, compared to those who had not practised sport in their youth. Furthermore, men were more likely than women to give preference to a sport in a competitive club setting. These odds were 67.8% greater for men
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