Participation in sport and physical activity (PA) during adolescence contributes to numerous positive outcomes including higher subjective well-being, improved cardiovascular health, mental health and academic performance (1–5), yielding longer lifespan and healthier adulthood (6, 7). Despite extensive research evidence which fortifies adolescents' health trough PA and sport participation, most adolescents do not meet the daily recommendation of at least 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous intensity PA per day conveyed by WHO (8). According to Guthold and colleagues, who investigated global PA trends among 1.6 million participants. Findings revealed about 2 out of 10 adolescents adhered to the PA recommendations, with girls being less active than boys (9). A recent Norwegian study revealed similar findings of low adherence to PA recommendations among Norwegian adolescents, also with girls being considerable less active than boys (10). While there are numerous reasons for low PA adherence in adolescence, it is pivotal from a public health perspective to identify and understand barriers to advance the field (11).

According to a systematic review by Stalsberg and Pedersen conducted in 2010, socioeconomic status (SES) could be a relevant barrier, as adolescents from higher-SES families were often more physically active than those from lower-SES families (12). However, the findings were far from uniform, as forty-two percent of the studies included revealed no association or a negative association between SES and PA. Research has also pointed to changes in inequalities over time related to PA and sports participation. A repeated European cross-sectional measures from 2005 to 2019 revealed an overall increase in inequalities (13). Furthermore, other related factors such as demographic factors may also influence adolescents' options for organized sports, due to fewer facilities and options in communities characterized by high proportion of lower SES residents (14). Studies have shown that higher SES levels in adolescence have been linked to higher participation in sport, but also inversely linked to time spent in sedentary behaviors (15). According to Pooja and colleagues, younger US adolescents from high-SES families had three times higher odds of adhering to PA recommendations and three times higher odds of ever participating in sport compared to adolescents from low-SES families (16). Still, the infrastructure of communities and set-up of clubs differ across countries, which should be taken into consideration when addressing sport participation in adolescence (17).

While Norway has a solid welfare system, previous research indicates that participation in organized sport activities is associated with SES (18). Sport participation in Norway is organized through sports clubs, voluntary work, wherein a certain extent of parental involvement is required (19). Therefore, competence, time and resources of parents are usually needed to fulfill the given requirements within the sports disciplines. According to the Norwegian Sports Federation survey, describing cost and cost drivers for youth in 2024, findings revealed a mean annual cost for a 15 year-old cross country skier of 11.700 NOK (equivalent to $1,000) (20). Higher economic demands in sport presumably impact the attrition among lower SES families. These assumptions are interesting to persue, as the Norwegian Social Research (NOVA), have reported that over half of those who engaged in organized sport at beginning of adolescence, had quit by the age of 17 (21). In addition, there exist some evidence of a social gradient for lower inactivity and non-participation in sports among Norwegian adolescents (22). However, further research is needed to identify differences in SES across all sports disciplines in Norway and explore differences between currents sport participants and sport dropouts (no longer participating in their most active sport as of the survey date).

In Norway, there is also lack of knowledge regarding how sport participation may affect school participation and school engagement. The obvious upside of sport participation is higher PA levels, which have been proven robust positive relations to academic performance (23–28). However, these are presumably bidirectional relationships, where better academic engagement might lead to both higher sport participation and teacher attention. There are also reported downsides in young athletes (29). Specifically, sport participation concentrated on one sport during adolescence has shown to increase the risk of burnout, sport-related injuries and attrition (30). Moreover, findings indicate that the positive outcomes of sport participation differ among boys and girls in terms of personal, peer and environmental factors (31), which could impact the perception of school environment as well. PA is shown to enhance adolescents’ psychological resilience and boost self-efficacy, which could be underlying mechanisms explaining a higher sense of belonging in school (32). Hence, accounting for not only SES and PA, but also gender should be considered appropriate when understanding the impact of sport participation and school-related outcomes. The PA engagement within the respective sport disciplines is described elsewhere (33), which could give a broader understanding of sport participation and school outcomes. To clarify, there are research gaps related to identifying key barriers to sport participation and to providing insights into the everyday lives of current sport participants and sport dropouts. Therefore, this study aimed to (1) describe SES across different sport disciplines among current participants and sport dropouts, (2) examine possible associations between sport participation and sport dropouts on school-related factors, such as perceived school stress, perceived teacher care, sense of belonging in school and perceived tiredness in school.

We hypothesized that current sport participants would have higher socioeconomic status (SES) levels than sport dropouts across all sport disciplines and that current sport participation, compared to sport dropout, would be associated with more favorable school-related outcomes.

The aims of the current study were to describe SES across sport disciplines in current sport participants and in sport dropouts and to examine possible associations between sport participation and sport dropouts on school-related outcomes. The main findings were as follows: (1) We found higher SES among adolescents participating in sport compared to sport dropouts and (2) participation in sport was associated with favorable school-related outcomes, such as lower odds for perceived school stress and tiredness in school, and higher odds of perceived sense of belonging in school and perceived teacher care.

Results from the present study show that current sport participants had higher socioeconomic status (SES) levels than sport dropouts across all sport disciplines, except for adolescents in motorsports. Our findings indicating that participants in tennis and XC skiing have higher SES levels that participants in other sports aligns with results from a repeated cross-sectional study among adults (13). These findings indicate that historical and cultural aspects related to sport participation and socioeconomic class may to some extent preserved to this day in Norway. Most worrying is our findings showing highest attrition rate among adolescents with the lowest SES levels. Barriers to PA among adolescents are often reported due to the lack of time, lack of motivation, and lack of accessible places (42). On the other hand, a systematic review of qualitative studies reported the main PA barriers and facilitators in the following order: individual factors, social and relational factors, PA nature, life factors and sociocultural and environmental factors (43). However, in the systematic review and meta-analyses by Owen colleagues (44), investigating the socioeconomic disparity in PA between low and high SES households, found even greater disparity in children than in adolescents. To elucidate, there is a need for concerted efforts to accommodate the complex need and barriers in an early life phase.

While our results revealed favorable school-outcomes and PA among adolescents participating in sport compared to sport dropouts, the picture is complex with several underlying conditions. Besides differences in SES, clear contrasts in PA engagement between groups should be highlighted, as sport participation and higher PA engagement presumably have complementary roles. While PA provide a broad range of physiological beneficial responses that could be beneficial in a school setting such as enhancing cognitive function, memory and attention (45–47), sport participation presumably provides structural long-term engagement, collaboration with peers and goal setting, which are also transferable to a school context (2, 48). Hence, both PA engagement and sport participation seem to mutually reinforce their positive impact on academic outcomes. Moreover, it is interesting that among adolescents currently participating in sport, fewer reported tiredness in school compared to sport dropouts, despite several mandatory practices during the weekdays, often late at night. These findings align with previous research revealing overall better health-related outcomes among adolescent in sport vs. adolescents not in organized sport, despite sport participants even reported less sleep duration than adolescents not active in sport (49).

Despite robust associations of favorable school outcomes among current sport participants for the total sample, which aligns with current research evidence underscoring the importance of PA engagement for positive relations to academic performance (23–28). It is interesting to discuss the nuances according to gender. Being a current sport participant revealed twice as high odds for higher perceived sense of belonging of the school environment among boys than in girls. These findings are presumably attributed by social and cultural aspects in adolescence. Boys in adolescence tend to be more competitive in sport compared to girls and physical competitiveness and capacities among boys are socially linked to a source of pride and admiration (50, 51). Therefore, the cultural valuation of being a sport participant can in some cases be boys-dominated and provide more explicit status. However, being a sport participant among girls and seems to be more strongly associated with lower odds of perceived school stress, which might indicate that sport participation, especially in girls is an essential arena for building resilience and capacities that could reduce the feeling of stress, which is a key finding as girls tend to report more perceived school stress compared to boys during adolescence (52, 53). In addition, girls reported higher odds of perceived teacher care than boys, which may presumably be explained to some extend by larger vocabulary (54) and often more openness regarding emotional struggles and concerns among girls than boys (55). These findings are in accordance with the research literature, revealing that girls tend to be more active in the classrooms and higher engagement in teacher-student relations (56–58) regardless of sport participation.

In conclusion, this study unveiled higher SES among adolescents in sport than in sport dropouts, underscoring the importance of promoting accessible and affordable sport opportunities during adolescence. Current sport participation was associated with favorable school-related outcomes compared to sport dropouts, such as lower odds for perceived school stress and tiredness in school, and higher odds of perceived sense of belonging in school and perceived teacher care. This indicates a positive role of sport participation in fostering positive school experiences which should be considered when policymakers prioritize future strategies. It is concerning that the highest attrition rate was uncovered among adolescents derived from the lowest SES levels. Thus, future observational and experimental studies are suggested, with the hope of focusing on concerted efforts to reduce barriers for sport participation and PA engagement in adolescence.