As the outdoor industry continues the important conversation about getting youth involved in the outdoors, a recent study produced by The SportsOneSource Group may add an interesting perspective to the debate over the openness of teens to engage in outdoor activities. According to the recent 2009 Brand Strength Report Teen Edition, tent camping was cited by teens most often as the sports or outdoor activity the participated in over the last year. The incidence was higher with middle school age teens than older teens.
Tent camping was cited by more than 37% of the teen survey respondents as an activity they participated in over the last year, while just over 33% of the overall population did so. The higher numbers on the teen side of the responses was driven by younger, middle-age respondents and teen female respondents. Nearly 41% of the 12- to 14-year-old respondents said they participated in tent camping versus just over 35% of the 15- to 17-year-old respondents. Nearly 39% of teen female respondents said they participated in tent camping, compared to roughly 36% of their teen male counterparts.
The data would appear to suggest that teens are more involved with camping through organizations like girl scouts and boy scouts and participation wanes as teens age.
The clue to these trends may lie within the activity “interest” questions where interest in the tent camping activity falls seven percentage points in the older teen age group. Still, the questions also find that more teens have an interest in tent camping (42%) than actually participated in the activity, suggesting there is an opportunity to introduce more teens, even the older group, to the outdoors.
Freshwater fishing was cited as the second post popular outdoor activity of interest to the teen respondents.
For more information on the 2009 Brand Strength Report Teen Edition, contact The SportsOneSource Group at research@SportsOneSource.com or call 704.987.3450 x104.
