ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1667921
This article is part of the Research TopicPsychological Factors in Physical Education and Sport - Volume VIView all 30 articles
The Temporal Evolution of Family Educational Priorities and Their Impact on Children's Sports Participation: Evidence from the HAPC Model
Provisionally accepted
- 1Yan'an University, Yan'an, China
- 2Xi'an University of Finance and Economics, Xi'an, China
- 3Applied Psychology (Ningbo) Research Center, Wenzhou Medical University, Ningbo, China
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Drawing on data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) between 2014 and 2020, this study employs a Hierarchical Age-Period-Cohort (HAPC) model to investigate the relationship between family educational priorities and children's sports participation. Grounded in social learning theory and ecological systems theory, the study conceptualizes parental educational emphasis as a proximal environmental factor that influences children's behavioral development through modeling, reinforcement, and value transmission. The findings reveal that greater parental emphasis on education is positively associated with both the frequency and duration of children's physical activity. A generational turning point is identified around the 1980 birth cohort, where the impact of parental educational focus on sports participation shifts from negative to positive. Heterogeneity analysis further shows that this effect is more pronounced in urban, two-parent households and among boys. These findings underscore the evolving psychological and social mechanisms by which family education priorities shape children's motivation and participation in physical activity. The results provide policy-relevant insights for fostering equitable, psychologically grounded strategies for youth development.
Keywords: Family Educational Priorities, Children's Sports Participation, physical activity, Generational change, HAPC model
Received: 17 Jul 2025; Accepted: 15 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zong, Li and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Shoudu Wang, wsd20122024@163.com
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