Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Context: Sports participation (SP) is key for adolescents to meet movement guidelines. However, COVID-19 restrictions may prove problematic for return-to-sport. Secondary school athletes are at higher risk for sport dropout, where the transitional period from secondary to collegiate sports requires greater recruitment of executive functioning (EF) to maintain SP. Presence of COVID-19 barriers may increase reliance on self-regulation (SR) mechanisms that cannot be sustained over time, leading to decreased SP and athletic identity (AI). Having a strong AI may protect against depletion of SR by decreasing reliance on EF.Objective: Assess the effects of AI strength on rates of adolescent return-to-sport. It is hypothesized that AI strength will moderate the relationships between EF, SR and SP prior to and post-pandemic.Methods: Using a retrospective cohort design and stratified random sampling,participants will be recruited from the 2017-2019 RBC Training Grounds database. SP and sport level will be self reported. AI, SR, and EF will be assessed using previously validated measures. Data will be analyzed through bootstrapped multiple regression method assuming α0.05. The study will be powered by a sample size of n200 (n20 per provincial strata) and medium effect size (d0.04). Significance: Low rates of adolescent SP may lead to adulthood inactivity. Presence of a strong AI may improve adolescent SP and excellence during return-to-sport. No current study has assessed the relationship between AI and SP during COVID-19. Therefore this study will explore the interrelations between EF, SR, AI, and SP during a critical transitional period within a unique global context that may lay the groundwork for future interventions targeting SP in populations with high dropout risk.