Parental Involvement, Pressure, and Support in Youth Sport: A Narrative Literature Review

Abstract

The aim of this literature review is to describe and critique what is known about relations between parents and their athlete children in contemporary research. Athlete families are prevalent and in need of research based in family systems theory. I describe a typology of underinvolved, moderately involved, and overinvolved parents. I found themes of parental involvement, pressure, support, and family‐level issues. I conclude with suggestions for guiding research on sports parenting with family systems theory.