The impact of the cost-of-living crisis on access to sport and physical activity for children and adolescents in Northern Ireland

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What is the background to the project?

Worldwide, levels of physical activity are low among children and adolescents which is of public health concern.
There is a persistent ‘socioeconomic status gap’ in physical activity where children from families who are more affluent tend to have higher levels of physical activity than children from less affluent families.
This socioeconomic status gap may increase during periods of economic downturn such as the current cost-of-living crisis which is affecting many countries globally.
Few studies have examined the effect of economic crises on physical activity and to our knowledge no studies to date have specifically considered the Northern Ireland (NI) population.

What was the aim of the study?

To understand how the cost-of-living crisis was affecting access to sport and physical activity opportunities for children and adolescents.

What did the research involve?

In brief, 855 parents/guardians of a child/children aged 4-16 years living in NI completed an online questionnaire which measured socioeconomic status, parental support for physical activity and the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on access to sport and physical activity for children and adolescents. Interviews were also conducted with 29 parents/guardians.

What were the key findings of the survey?

The majority of parents/guardians (85%) agreed that sport and physical activity were important for their children to manage worries, however, 30% were unable to afford the equipment and clothing that their children needed to take part in sport or physical activity.
More than a third of parents/guardians (35%) reduced spending on sport and physical activity for their children since the onset of the cost-of-living crisis in 2021.
For 37% of parents/guardians, their children had missed out on sport or physical activity because of the costs involved.
Overall, 40% of parents/guardians felt their children had been impacted by the cost increases.
Since 2021, 24% of parents/guardians used credit or borrowed money to cover sport and physical activity costs.
The study findings, highlight specific population groups that have been more severely impacted by the cost-of-living crisis, including those with low household incomes, those living in areas of high deprivation, single parent families and households in receipt of benefits.

Where do we go from here?

This is the first study to investigate the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on access to sport and physical activity opportunities for children and adolescents in NI.
Parents/guardians reported using a range of actions, measures and strategies to cope with the cost-of-living crisis but there is a need to further investigate how sport and physical activity opportunities have changed during the cost-of-living crisis.
Sports clubs are also seeing the impact of the cost-of-living crisis and it will be important to investigate how clubs are supporting families to ensure that all children have the opportunity to take part, regardless of socioeconomic status.
For many children, the cost-of-living crisis will have occurred during their formative years or early childhood (0-5 years) when physical activity and sedentary behaviour habits are typically established. Given that physical activity and sedentary behaviour levels track into childhood, the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on sport, physical activity, health and wellbeing during this important period of child development is not yet known.