Preview

Effects of Title Ix and Sports Participation on Girls’ Physical Activity and Weight

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
13888 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Effects of Title Ix and Sports Participation on Girls’ Physical Activity and Weight
EFFECTS OF TITLE IX AND SPORTS PARTICIPATION
ON GIRLS’ PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND WEIGHT

Robert Kaestner

This research was partially supported by grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and from the
Chicago Center for Excellence in Health Promotion Economics of the University of Chicago and University of Illinois at Chicago. The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

©2006 by Robert Kaestner and Xin Xu. All rights reserved. Short sections of text, not to exceed two paragraphs, may be quoted without explicit permission provided that full credit, including © notice, is given to the source.

Effects of Title IX and Sports Participation on Girls’ Physical Activity and Weight
Robert Kaestner and Xin Xu
NBER Working Paper No. 12113
March 2006, Revised June 2006
JEL No. I12, I18

ABSTRACT

In this study, we examined the association between girls’ participation in high school sports and the physical activity, weight, body mass and body composition of adolescent females during the 1970s when girls’ sports participation was dramatically increasing as a result of Title IX. We found that increases in girls’ participation in high school sports, a proxy for expanded athletic opportunities for adolescent females, were associated with an increase in physical activity and an improvement in weight and body mass among girls. In contrast, adolescent boys experienced a decline in physical activity and an increase in weight and body mass during the period when girls’ athletic opportunities were expanding. Taken together, these results strongly suggest that Title IX and the increase in athletic opportunities among adolescent females it engendered had a beneficial effect on the health of adolescent girls.

Robert Kaestner
Department of Economics
Institute of Government and Public Affairs
University of Illinois at



References: American Friends Service Committee. 1977. “Almost as Fairly: The First Year of Title IX Implementation in Six Southern States.” U.S Bound J., Jaeger D. A., Baker R. M. 1995. “On Potential Problems with Instrumental Variables Estimation When the Correlation Between the Instruments and the Endogenous Explanatory Variable is Weak.” Craig W. L. 1977. “Implementing Title IX.” NASSP Bulletin, January 1977. Cutler, D.M., Glaeser E Lake J. K., Power C., Cole T. J. 1997. “Child to Adult Body Mass Index in 1958 British Birth Cohort: Associations with Parental Obesity.” Archives of disease in childhood, 77:376-380 Lloyd T., Chinchilli V. M., Johnson-Rollings N., Kieselhorst K., Eggli D. F., Marcus R. 2000. “Adult Female Hip Bone Density Reflects Teenage, Sports-Exercise Patterns but not Teenage Calcium Intake.” Must, A., Dallal G. E., Dietz, W. H. 1991. "Reference Data for Obesity: 85th and 95th Percentiles of Body Mass Index and Triceps Skinfold Thickness." American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 53:839-46 National Center for Health Statistics. 2005. “Prevalence of Overweight Among Children and Adolescents: United States, 1999-2002 June 15, 2005. National Federation of State High School Associations Competitive Athletic Programs in Selected Public High Schools of Texas.” East Texas School Study Council Fall, 1976 Rowland T. W. 1996. “Athleticism, Physical Activity and Health in the Early Years: a Question of Persistence.” Encyclopaedia of Sports Medicine Vol Ruiz J. C., Mandel C., Garabedian M. 1995. “Influence of Spontaneous Calcium Intake and Physical Exercise on the Vertebral and Femoral Bone Density of Children and Adolescents.” Journal of Bone Mineral Specker B. L. 1996. “Evidence of Interaction Between Calcium Intake and Physical Activity on Changes in Bone Mineral Density.” Journal of Bone Mineral Resources, 11: 1539-1544 Staffo D. F. 1980. “Efforts of Selected New York State High School to Provide Equal Opportunity in Interscholastic Athletics.” Review of Sports and Leisure, 5: 93-106 Stefanick M. L. 1993. “Exercise and Weight Control .” Exercise and Sport Sciences Review, 21: 363-396.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    A Title IX-based decision to specifically eliminate a wrestling program cannot be based on a perceived decreased popularity of the sport among male teens. In fact, from 1981-2001, the number of high school wrestling teams had grown by 10% (Stanford Business Case: SPM-14, 2004). It is clearly a decision based on gender-ratio equality. According to the National Wrestling Coaching Associating, 378 two-year and four-year colleges have discontinued male programs since Title IX’s first year of existence in 1972 (Stanford). Under Title IX, the male/female ratio of athletes at an institution must be proportionate to the male/female ratio of undergraduate enrollment (Stanford). Many male non-revenue sports, Marquette wrestling for instance, were eliminated in order for universities to meet the requirements of Title IX. This unfortunate outcome is highly reminiscent of some of women’s athletic-related shortcomings and underrepresentation pre-Title IX. The United States Department of Education should therefore adjust the compliance parameters associated with Title IX objectives. For instance, football is a male sport requiring a relatively large roster and dedicated significant budget, potentially severely skewing Title IX objectives. As such, football should theoretically be exempt from all Title IX calculations.…

    • 1070 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Four years after the Regulations were implemented and they were revised into three rules, called Interpretations: universities must ensure equal financial aid to women and men in proportion to the number of each sex who take part in athletics, men and women must have equal athletic opportunity, and universities must offer sports programs that that meet the students interests and abilities (digitalcommons.law.byu.edu). Title IX and the regulations added on did its job to help women’s sports, but the repercussions were overlooked and disregarded. Many men’s sports are suffering from Title IX today, from a bill that was originally intended to increase female participation in sports and ban any discrimination based on gender in a time of gender inequality. 40 years later, the same bill is in place. Today women have all of the opportunities that men do, and possibly even more at college with Title IX still in…

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In 1972 a policy known as Title IX was written and mandated into Federal policy. Title IX states "no person.....shall, on the basis of sex….be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal financial assistance" (Glenn Sacks, "Title IX Lawsuits are Endangering Men's College Sports," p. 3). Many high schools and colleges have not been able to comply with the Title IX standards mostly because of money. After more than 30 years since the beginning of Title IX, there is still no gender equality among men and women in sports.…

    • 1017 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    (2) Another thing that should also be remembered about Title IX should be it also had some negative effects for majority of school districts. Due to Title IX trying to create a balanced financial status towards men and womens athletics this cut the budget for the men’s athletics. This resulted in schools having to lose their absolute best programs and would actually lose money due to the lack of income from the most profitable program. Some schools would cut the men’s athletics budget in half, even more, and then develop weaker programs for their schools creating lack of interest. Schools would lose fans for their events because they would be constantly losing in these events they lost money for. (3) During the period before Title IX women usually were only able to be in classes that were going towards what the school believed there profession would be. Examples of this would be classes that would help them be a household wife. In neatoday.org, it states “Before Title IX, many schools only allowed women to train for careers they found suitable for women – namely, housekeeping. Now, school administrators can’t legally dictate which students can take which classes based on gender.” (neatoday.org, 2016) Also before Title IX the school districts had the right to suspend…

    • 1838 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Hanson, Katherine, Vivian Guilfoy, and Sarita Pillai. More Than Title IX: How Equity in Education Has Shaped the Nation. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2009. Print.…

    • 2483 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pros And Cons Of Title IX

    • 662 Words
    • 3 Pages

    One of the landmark laws of the 1970s was Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Title IX states that “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, or denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal assistance.” (US Department of Labor, pg. 1) This law provided the framework for the beginning of equality in education. In fact, Title IX was the first comprehensive federal law to prohibit sex discrimination against students and employees of educational institutions.…

    • 662 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” is what Title IX says as part of the Education Amendments. Passed by the US Congress in June and signed into law on July 1, 1972, it’s most notable for advancing equity in girls and women’s sports. It was only after Title IX was passed the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and other high school administrators thought boys’ sports would suffer if girls’ sports were to be funded equally.…

    • 1889 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Patsy T. Mink Equality

    • 2131 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to the Civil Rights Act of 1964…

    • 2131 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    During the time of Title IX’s creation women were trying to get equal rights and they fought vigorously to get their rights.Although they did not think of the aftershock that was going to happen afterwards, after that aftershock, both the women and men’s talents were wasted after a ton of sports fell off the map at colleges! YaleLawJournal.edu states that “Title IX is a rule to equal out the favoritism to men in sports at that time”. The controversy of Title IX is that some people really want it to be either loosened to let there be extra male scholarships,or tightened to, were that NCAA compliant schools who are caught in favoring men are punished,or leveling it out completely to where men and women have the correct amount of scholarships for each of their own sports. Overall men and women should have equal rights and get…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Pros And Cons Of Title IX

    • 1539 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The purpose of Title IX was to create equal opportunities for both male and female students. The amendment really affected mostly women. They were poorly represented in college athletics over the last 30 years. The Title IX legislation has been a very controversial subject. Many people are opposed to the idea that women program should be equal to males athletic programs. I truly believe that the program is bias and totally unfair. During this paper I will discuss the history of Title IX, the advantages and disadvantages of Title XI, the effects of college and high school programs and the profit obtained from the use of Title IX funds.…

    • 1539 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Title IX Pros And Cons

    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 has had a positive impact on the lives of women in the United States. Before Title IX was passed, girls and women were not given the same opportunities as boys and men when it came to education and athletics. The aim of this amendment has been to promote equal opportunities for girls and women throughout the realm of education and sport. Specifically, Title IX states, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance” (Wuest, 2015, p. 133). Since this amendment was passed, girls and women have been given more…

    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Title IX states that any educational program or activity that receives federal funds will not be allowed to discriminate students based on gender (“Overview of Title IX ….”). After Title IX girls are allowed to play any sports, take any classes, and become anything that they want to become. Boys are the same way. They are allowed to take any classes that they would like to take and they can become anything that they want to become. Before Title IX was passed as a law, only men were allowed to get scholarships to colleges and universities, but after Title IX all students were allowed to get scholarships that the schools offer (Chadband). Only men were allowed to get scholarships because humans thought that women were too fragile to play, but now they can play any sport that men can play (Winslow). Before Title IX was in place the women did not have a chance to get a scholarship for something that they…

    • 974 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Though many people argued the question of without Title IX if those changes in education, athletics, and the work force would’ve been possible even without the amendment since the role of women in modern American life was independently evolving throughout the 1970s, but the fact that Title IX was put in place helped to further push the ability for women to participate in higher sports and education, along with gaining the confidence to achieve greater equality in…

    • 228 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gavora Gender Equality

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages

    “Time’s Up for Title IX Sports” is an excerpt from Jessica Gavora’s book entitled Tilting the Playing Field: Schools, Sports, Sex, and Title IX. Gavora argues that instead of evening the play field for girls in athletics, Title IX is eliminating opportunities for men. Gavora’s argument is effective because of her intuitive appeals. She is also successful in using the opposition’s data against them.…

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Title IX is a comprehensive federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity. The principal objective of Title IX is to avoid the use of federal money to support sex discrimination in education programs and to provide individual citizens effective protection against those practices. Title IX applies, with a few specific exceptions, to all aspects of federally funded education programs or activities” [1]. The creation and enforcement would change the opportunities and chance given to women in both education and sports for all of time. It helped to give way to some of the most iconic female athletes and coaches at both the amateur and professional level. It helped to give the…

    • 694 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics