Topsport in Nederland (2009)

This study examines the influence of parental occupational status and respondents own educational attainment on the level of sports participation. The author compared elite sports participants with regular sports participants and regular sports participants with non-sports participants in the Netherlands. For the first comparison the author used data collected from elite sports participants in the Netherlands between 1998 and 2007 (N=1.028) by the Mulier Institute. For the second he used data from the Family Survey Dutch Population 2003 (N=2.338). A positive association on the one hand was found between parental occupational status and personal level of education for being a regular sportmen compared to a non-sportsmen. An even stronger positive association on the other hand was found between parental occupational status and personal level of education for being an elite sportsmen compared to a regular sportsmen.