Female Basketball Participation: Negotiating the Conflation of Peer Status and Gender Status from Childhood through Puberty

In: American behavioral scientist: ABS, Volume 46, Issue 10, p. 1405-1422

Abstract

The adolescent transition is characterized by heightened social pressure to conform to gender expectations from peers and increased female sports attrition. However, few studies examine how gender shapes physical activity participation in peer contexts. Through qualitative life-history interviews with high school basketball players, this study explores female sports participation and attrition throughout adolescence. To what extent do pre- and post-pubertal sporting experiences differ for girls? Results indicate that before and after puberty, girls' peer statuses and gender statuses are conflated. Female popularity (peer status) often contradicted (high status) basketball player. At both time points, girls had to renegotiate a tension between popularity (peer status) and athleticism. However, a postpubertal failure to emphasize femininity and/or downplay skills led peers to question girls' heterosexuality. Therefore, homophobia may be complicit in female sports attrition. Modifiable social processes in peer contexts are identified for post—Title IX gender equity education.