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American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 46, No. 10, 1405-1422 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/0002764203046010008
© 2003 SAGE Publications

Female Basketball Participation

Negotiating the Conflation of Peer Status and Gender Status from Childhood through Puberty

Sohaila Shakib

University of Southern California

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.

Key Words: physical activity • gender • adolescence • homophobia


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This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 International Review for the Sociology of SportHome page
S. Shakib and M. D. Dunbar
How High School Athletes Talk about Maternal and Paternal Sporting Experiences: Identifying Modifiable Social Processes for Gender Equity Physical Activity Interventions
International Review for the Sociology of Sport, September 1, 2004; 39(3): 275 - 299.
[Abstract] [PDF]