Magyar_Ifjusag_2012_tanulmanykotet

Hungarian Youth 2012Szilvia Perényi: Exercise trends stagnating at low levels:the regeneration of physical inactivityThe Hungarian Youth 2012 survey reported a decline of four per cent since2008 in young people’s engagement in sports activities. This outcome reflectsa poor result in comparison to European levels of pursuing sports duringthe previous twelve years, although a tendency of stagnation is apparentwhen compared with Hungarian trends for the same period. Trends detectablealong social demographic variables reflect a pattern similar to the resultsof the previous, 2008 survey with respect to gender, age, chief occupationand qualification. The decline of the proportion of the population engagingin exercise is especially evident in the face of gender distinctions, with theshare of women and goals remaining well below that of the male population.Among the events that define one’s daily life, entering the labour market,starting a family and languishing in unemployment prove to be the greatestobstacles that prevent the inclusion of regular sport and exercise into thedaily routine. Concerning chief occupation, those still pursuing their studiesengage in sport in the largest proportion. The practice of sports opportunitiesat the workplace underwent transformation during the years after thetransition to democracy, with the existing institutional structure, dominatedby political organisations, mostly ceasing to exist without replacementby new possibilities.While opportunities to engage in sport have diversified, individualchoices and tastes assumed an ever greater role. Generations of Hungariansgrew up in the midst of unsustainable socialisation with regard to sport orin the total absence of such an environment, Szilvia Perényi argues. Thisaspect of socialisation was unable to evolve in both the Socialist era and thesubsequent democratic political system and no steps were made in order toachieve this goal, resulting in the regeneration of a spectator-centred attitudeand, in the absence of channels to convey sport socialisation, disinterestin exercise and the consequent physical inactivity.354