Closing the wellbeing gap

At StreetGames we are passionate about helping children and young people from the most deprived places build life-long habits in sport and physical activity.

We do this because we know the powerful role that sport and physical activity can play in helping young people build friendships, develop confidence, forge a sense of belonging, provide opportunities to connect with trusted adults, develop pro-social behaviours and improve attention, engagement and performance levels at school.

The triple dividend for young people

Sport and physical activity improves health and wellbeing for everyone, but for children and young people it delivers a ‘triple dividend’.

This refers, firstly, to the immediate gains from getting good active habits from a young age; secondly, to the potential of future benefits as today’s youngsters transition into adulthood and, thirdly, to the advantages that the next generation (i.e. their children) will enjoy from following their elders’ healthy behaviours.

As such, it’s encouraging to see this new research from Sport England and their research partners – State of Life, Sheffield Hallam University and Manchester Metropolitan University – which provides powerful data showing the significant wellbeing uplift children and young people gain from taking part in sport and physical activity.

The latest numbers include new calculations for 7-11-year-olds and applies the newly developed C-WELLBY measure, together with wellbeing values by demographic breakdowns for 11-16-year-olds.

The new results show an average yearly wellbeing value of an active young person aged 7-11 years of £3,100, and an updated average value of £4,300 for an active person aged 11-16 years.

There is also significant wellbeing value attached to young people who are ‘fairly active’, because taking part in at least some sport and physical activity regularly is better for the wellbeing of our young people than being ‘less active’.

Wellbeing calculations

In both cases, the average wellbeing values for participation are higher for children and young people than for adults, highlighting the importance of being active from a young age.

However, the research also highlights a ‘wellbeing gap’.

As we mentioned, the value of being active for 11-16-year-olds is £4,300, but analysis by demographic sub-groups shows a weaker association between physical activity and wellbeing among children and young people who are from low family affluence (£2,900), Black (£2,300), girls (£3,300), or disabled or living with a long-term health condition (£2,800).

As the report pinpoints, these wellbeing calculations do not take into consideration factors related to opportunity, motivation, enjoyment and experience – all of which are essential to developing a lifelong positive relationship with physical activity and that may go some way to explaining the disparities.

Indeed, recent analysis from Youth Sport Trust showed that motivation and enjoyment account for at least half of the wellbeing benefits of physical activity in school.

We also know from last year’s Active Lives Children and Young People 2023-24 survey data that only 37% of children and young people from low affluence families feel they have the opportunity to be physically active, compared to 57% of children and young people from high affluence families.   

This is a view that is very much echoed amongst young people StreetGames speak to and who are living in areas of high deprivation who tell us: “there isn’t a lot to do”, “parks don’t feel safe”, “the public facilities get vandalised and are not maintained”, “prices are very expensive” or “we would love to volunteer, but it’s difficult to find opportunities”.

Equalising opportunities and provision 

However, when opportunity and choice are equalised – such as through school-based activity or accessible community provision – the association between physical activity and wellbeing appears stronger among more disadvantaged groups.

Youth Sport Trust analysis shows that the wellbeing benefit of physical activity in school is almost double for children who are disabled or receiving free school meals compared to their peers.

For those of us working to provide all children and young people with access to the benefits that come from taking part in sport and physical activity, this new research is important as it provides further evidence on the essential role that sport and physical activity can play in society. 

But also importantly, it emphasises the need to maintain an unwavering focus on reducing inequalities that exist, and on making sure all children and young people can take part in a variety of enjoyable and accessible opportunities that will help them to flourish not just now, but also in the future.

And if you still need further convincing, then we’ll leave the final say to young people who shared how sports and physical activity benefits them.

Some mention it’s all about having fun, others highlight how it helps them to meet new people and socialise, while for others being active brings “a nice break from daily stresses” that gives them a chance to “forget everything while being an active and healthy too”.

The advantages of being active really are too good to ignore and all children deserve to take advantage of them.