Dropout Reasons in Iranian Youth Roller Skaters

The main drop-out reasons from the sport of roller skating amongst Iranian youth skaters has been examined. A questionnaire with 53 items (adopted from Enoksen, 2011) representing seven subscales namely: training factors and facilities, executive factors and team, education and work obligations, motivational aspects, social-cultural environment, choice of other sport activities and interests and economic factors was especially developed for this research. Responses were measured on a Likert scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree” in relation to each statement. In all 112 skaters predominantly male (mean age 17.1, SD = 1.63) with a mean = 5.43 years of experience (SD = 2.92) that had discontinued in the past two years completed the questionnaire. Results of one sample t-tests showed that all factors expect “social-cultural environment” are significant indicators for drop out from skating with “economical factors” scoring the highest ranking. Correlational analysis showed that younger participants agree more strongly that “executive factors and team” and “education and work obligations” were the best predictors of drop out. Those with fewer years of experience considered “training factors and facilities”, “motivational aspects and social and cultural environment” as more likely reasons for quitting. Implications of the findings are discussed.