IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i23p12732-d693954.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sports Bra Preferences by Age and Impact of Breast Size on Physical Activity among American Females

Author

Listed:
  • Katherine H. Rizzone

    (Department of Orthopaedics and Pediatrics, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14624, USA)

  • Bianca Edison

    (Department of Orthopaedics, University of South California, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90027, USA)

  • Nailah Coleman

    (Department of Pediatrics, Children’s National Hospital/George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA)

  • Cordelia Carter

    (Department of Orthopaedics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA)

  • Ingrid Ichesco

    (Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA)

  • Paige Cassidy

    (Department of Medicine and Pediatrics, Spectrum Health/Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, Grand Rapids, MI 48197, USA)

  • Jane Chung

    (Department of Orthopaedics and Pediatrics Frisco, Scottish Rite for Children, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75235, USA)

  • Courtney Marie Cora Jones

    (Department of Orthopaedics and Pediatrics, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14624, USA
    Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14627, USA)

Abstract

For many females, sports bras are an essential piece of equipment for participation in sports and physical activity. Breast pain or discomfort from lack of support may be a contributing factor to the noted gender disparity in physical activity of females compared to males. Our objective was to evaluate sports bra usage and characterize sports bra preferences of an active female cohort. This multicenter cross-sectional survey study was conducted at five geographically distinct academic centers. Our measure was administered during outpatient sports medicine clinic visits to females aged 11–64 years old. Chi-square tests were used to compare characteristics across subgroups. Our analysis consisted of 438 respondents, with a mean age of 22 ± 12.2 years. More than a quarter (27.4%) reported lack of breast support prevented them from being active or exercising. Age ( p = 0.03), breast size ( p < 0.0001), and household income ( p = 0.01) were significantly associated with greater frequency of physical activity being limited by lack of breast support. Lack of breast support may be an important barrier for young females of specific populations to meeting physical activity recommendations. Further research is needed to improve the understanding of this important piece of sporting equipment for women.

Suggested Citation

  • Katherine H. Rizzone & Bianca Edison & Nailah Coleman & Cordelia Carter & Ingrid Ichesco & Paige Cassidy & Jane Chung & Courtney Marie Cora Jones, 2021. "Sports Bra Preferences by Age and Impact of Breast Size on Physical Activity among American Females," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:23:p:12732-:d:693954
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/23/12732/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/23/12732/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Betsey Stevenson, 2007. "Title Ix And The Evolution Of High School Sports," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 25(4), pages 486-505, October.
    2. Betsey Stevenson, 2010. "Beyond the Classroom: Using Title IX to Measure the Return to High School Sports," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(2), pages 284-301, May.
    3. Brownson, R.C. & Eyler, A.A. & King, A.C. & Brown, D.R. & Shyu, Y.-L. & Sallis, J.F., 2000. "Patterns and correlates of physical activity among US women 40 years and older," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 90(2), pages 264-270.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Steingrimsdottir, Herdis, 2020. "The decreased popularity of the teaching sector in the 1970s," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    2. Joseph Price & Daniel H. Simon, 2011. "High School Sports and Teenage Births," Chapters, in: Plácido Rodríguez & Stefan Késenne & Brad R. Humphreys (ed.), The Economics of Sport, Health and Happiness, chapter 10, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Marcén, Miriam & Morales, Marina & Sevilla, Almudena, 2020. "Gender Stereotyping in Sports," IZA Discussion Papers 13470, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Callison, Kevin & Lowen, Aaron, 2022. "The long-run effects of adolescent athletic participation on women’s health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    5. Barbara Kotschwar, 2014. "Women, Sports, and Development: Does It Pay to Let Girls Play?," Policy Briefs PB14-8, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    6. Baker, Michael & Cornelson, Kirsten, 2019. "Title IX and the spatial content of female employment—Out of the lab and into the labor market," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 128-144.
    7. Vidal-Fernández Marian, 2011. "The Effect of Minimum Academic Requirements to Participate in Sports on High School Graduation," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-21, August.
    8. Aaron Lowen & Robert O. Deaner & Erika Schmitt, 2016. "Guys and Gals Going for Gold," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 17(3), pages 260-285, April.
    9. Guldi, Melanie, 2016. "Title IX and the education of teen mothers," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 103-116.
    10. Cabane, Charlotte & Hille, Adrian & Lechner, Michael, 2015. "Mozart or Pelé? The effects of teenagers’ participation in music and sports," Economics Working Paper Series 1509, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    11. Dimitrios Nikolaou & Laura M. Crispin, 2022. "Estimating the effects of sports and physical exercise on bullying," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(2), pages 283-303, April.
    12. Bellés Obrero, Cristina & Duchini, Emma, 2020. "Who Benefits from General Knowledge?," IZA Discussion Papers 12995, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Slawa Rokicki & Mark E. McGovern, 2020. "Heterogeneity in Early Life Investments: A Longitudinal Analysis of Children's Time Use," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 66(3), pages 647-676, September.
    14. Soledad Giardili, 2018. "University Quotas and Peers’ Achievement," Working Papers 854, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    15. Jaana T Kari & Jaakko Pehkonen & Mirja Hirvensalo & Xiaolin Yang & Nina Hutri-Kähönen & Olli T Raitakari & Tuija H Tammelin, 2015. "Income and Physical Activity among Adults: Evidence from Self-Reported and Pedometer-Based Physical Activity Measurements," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(8), pages 1-15, August.
    16. Hille, Adrian & Schupp, Jürgen, 2015. "How Learning a Musical Instrument Affects the Development of Skills," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 44, pages 56-82.
    17. Charlotte Cabane & Andrew E. Clark, 2015. "Childhood Sporting Activities andAdult Labour-Market Outcome," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 119-120, pages 123-148.
    18. Betsey Stevenson, 2010. "Beyond the Classroom: Using Title IX to Measure the Return to High School Sports," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(2), pages 284-301, May.
    19. Groen, Jeffrey A. & Pabilonia, Sabrina Wulff, 2019. "Snooze or lose: High school start times and academic achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 204-218.
    20. Lechner, Michael & Felfe, Christina & Steinmayr, Andreas, 2011. "Sports and Child Development," CEPR Discussion Papers 8523, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:23:p:12732-:d:693954. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.