Parents interact with their surrounding environment as they support their children's sport activities. Family ecological theory suggests that these interactions occur at various levels - the micro-, meso-, exo-, and macrosystems. In trying to understand how Korean immigrant parents support their children's sport participation, this study conducts in-depth interviews with a total of 17 Korean immigrant parents. This study finds that the variety of contextual factors they interact with include family, neighbourhood, school, sport organisations, work, policy and system, and cultures. The study also finds how the parents interact differently with these contexts according to their gender and children's level of sport. Free of the 'education fever' that engulfs nearly all parents in Korea, the immigrant parents found themselves at liberty to interact more actively with the values and customs of US society to support their children's sport participation. Copyright © 2018 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Sport development culture immigrants youth sport parents Ecological theory Sport participation Elite sport Education fever Contextual factors

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