Why the study?
Globally, the dropout rate among young athletes rises significantly when adolescence starts, prompting the need to explore the characteristics and extent of dropout in youth sports in Hungary.
Among elite Hungarian youth athletes, those competing in individual sports had a significantly higher 5-year dropout rate than those in team sports.
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Higher dropout in individual sports may warrant retention monitoring in youth athletes; leaves open causality and generalizability.
Background: Globally, the dropout rate among young athletes, which is influenced by a range of complex and interconnected factors, tends to rise significantly when adolescence starts. Objective: The present retrospective cohort study aimed to explore the characteristics and extent of dropout in youth sports in Hungary. Methods: We analysed the status of 409 athletes who participated in the summer editions of the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) between 2009 and 2019, assessing their athletic status 5 years later. Specifically, we examined the associations between dropout rates and factors such as gender, types of sport and relative age quartiles. Results: Our findings reveal that dropout rates were higher in individual sports compared to team sports. Additionally, within individual sports, athletes born in the second age quartile had a slightly higher dropout rate, while those born in the third quartile experienced a slightly lower rate compared to the other quartiles. Conclusion: These insights contribute to a deeper understanding of the factors influencing dropout in youth sports.
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Kovács et al. (2025) studied this question.
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