Soccer Moms and Dads: Family Values Enacted Through Sports

Research demonstrates personal values are important to involvement in sports, children are socialized into their parents’ value systems, and values are instrumental in consumer behavior. Through participant observation of children’s soccer games and depth interviews with parents and children, our research investigates the enactment of family values through children’s sports and the socialization of children to family values through these activities. Narratives and means-end chain laddering reveal several paradoxes in the enactment of family values. Our research illustrates that participation shifts the prominence of articulated family values for both parents and children, suggesting reverse socialization at play.

Citation:

Amber Epp, Linda Price, and Robert Kozinets (2005) ,"Soccer Moms and Dads: Family Values Enacted Through Sports", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 7, eds. Karin M. Ekstrom and Helene Brembeck, Goteborg, Sweden : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 155-159.