Sport's social provisions

This paper explores the relationship between sport and social capital by reporting on research that examined the social provisions of individuals’ involvement in sport and non-sport community organisations. Data were collected on levels of involvement in community sport and other third sector organisations, selected demographic variables, and a measure of social support using the Social Provisions Scale (Cutrona, 1984, 1986; Cutrona & Russell, 1987). The findings support the contention that social support developed through involvement in sport organisations is stronger than that developed through involvement in non-sport community organisations, but reveal that differences in the type, tenure and intensity of involvement in sport organisations had no significant impact on the strength of support developed.