Organized sport engagement interventions for female adolescents: a systematic review using the Youth Sport System

Sport participation can yield numerous benefits. However, adolescent dropout remains a challenge, with dropout rate higher in girls than in boys. Sport engagement interventions may contribute to re-engaging this population. This systematic review investigated the effectiveness of interventions to engage female adolescents in organized sport and classified these using the Youth Sport System (YSS). The database search identified 3178 articles, with five eligible for inclusion. Two of the studies were qualitative, one was quantitative, and two were mixed methods. None of the quantitative studies showed a significant increase in participation. However, the qualitative studies revealed that interventions tailored to female adolescents’ social norms and preferences assisted sport enrolment. This review highlights the benefit of interventions permeating multiple subsystems of the YSS for this cohort. The dearth of existing literature uncovered by this review highlights a need for more research, and development of more interventions to re-engage female adolescents in sport.