MULTIPRACTICE AND ITS VARIOUS MODES - A N EGLECTED ASPECT OF STUDIES ON SPORTS PARTICIPATION

This article is concerned with a variable that is generally neglected in the study of sporting practices, that is to say the number of activ ities practised by the same person. Multi-practice as opposed to singl e-practice is studied in its different forms and variations: according to time and space (on holidays, during the remainder of the year, ins ide and outside the home); according to the main socio-demographic cha racteristics (age, sex, socioeconomic group); and according to the ins titutional nature of the sporting commitment (informal practice, pract ice within the framework of sporting associations, and practice center ed around competition). Data analysis sheds light on the following fin dings: (1) that the inequality of social distribution is more pronounc ed for multi-practice; (2) that participation in competition, even at the highest level, does not have a detrimental effect on the number of sports practised, as one would have supposed. On the contrary, compet ition at the highest level represents multi-practice at its best.