Factors associated with U.S. adults’ willingness to allow teenagers to play tackle football

by Kyle A. Kercher, Jonathan T. Macy, Dong-Chul Seo, Jesse A. Steinfeldt

Little is known about the individual factors, such as knowledge and attitudes (i.e., football safety knowledge, football attitudes), related to adults’ willingness to allow adolescents to participate in tackle football. To address this gap, this study examined the extent to which football safety knowledge and attitudes toward head injury risk are associated with adults’ willingness to allow teenage boys to play high school tackle football. Data were obtained from an internet-based survey of a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults aged 18 to 93 years (n = 1,018). We conducted multilevel linear regression modelling to examine independent effects of the football safety knowledge- and attitude-based predictors. Our analyses revealed that knowledge of football safety measures, along with four of the five attitude-based variables were significantly associated with adults’ willingness to allow teenagers to participate in tackle football, over and above demographic factors. This study provides the first nationally representative examination of willingness to allow tackle football participation while extending our understanding of the gap between policy, public perception, and behavior present in U.S. high school football. These results point to promising directions for stakeholders aiming to increase tackle football participation as an increased understanding of the factors associated with participation may help inform effective policymaking, intervention design, and parental decision making.