Cultural and Social Barriers to Participation of Old Women in Tehran in Public Sport Programs

The study is to investigate the cultural and social barriers of old women participation in public sport, using the theoretical framework of the Parsons Model Variables of Variation of Participation Goals, Lifestyle, Social Base, Social Relationship Network, Gender, Socialization and Disability. Individual interests were extracted. The research was conducted through survey method and a researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect the data. The statistical population consisted of the elderly women in Tehran. Using Cochran formula, the sample was 286 persons. After approving the validity of the questionnaire, the sampling was performed by multi-stage cluster sampling method and data were collected.The results showed that lifestyle that is based on low mobility and the consequence of urban life is one of the barriers to participation in public sport. Individuals with limited social relationships, due to a lack of social awareness, reduce participation in public sport. Disability in the two dimensions of aging and gender that emerges from a cultural perspective is seen as a root cause for sport participation. On the other hand, the more goals people have for participating in public sports, the more they participate and the lack of diversity in goals reduces the motivation for participation. Alongside these factors, individual interest in sport facilitates sport participation in the female elderly relation between social status of old women and public sport. However, there was no significant correlation between gender socialization with the dependent variable at 95% confidence level.