Rollerblading: Social behavioural development and the role of peers in an informal sport

Abstract

Informal sports and their influence on the social behavioural development of children and adolescents is a rather new area of research. This study focused on social development and the role of peers therein, in a specific informal sport: Rollerblading. The perspective of rollerbladers on their social behavioural development and rollerblading was examined by interviewing twenty one of them on three different skateparks. The results indicate that social behavioural development occurs in the process of learning how to rollerblade and frequenting the skatepark. Peers appear to play a significant role in the development of social behaviour in the skatepark. Rollerbladers learn social behaviour, such as how to deal with others, or negotiate space and attention, from rollerblading peers by verbal and non verbal examples. Whether rollerblading does contribute to social behavioural development, or is merely one of the systems where social behavioural development can take place, is not established yet.