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Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Most Americans like sports at least a little bit, but according to new survey data, no demographic enjoys sports quite as much as heterosexual men. Of the 4,000 survey respondents asked about their interest in sports, just 11 percent said they weren't at all interested in sports. Nearly 90 percent of the country, it turns out, is at least a little bit of a sports fan.
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In fact, results showed 40 percent of respondents deemed themselves passionate sports fans. For heterosexual men, the number was 60 percent.
Approximately 40 percent of respondents who identified as heterosexual or lesbian females said they were "quite a bit" or "very much so" sports fans. Just 30 percent of gay men identified as passionate sports fans.
Researchers detailed the results of their survey in a new study, published online Friday in the Sociology of Sport Journal.
"We found that U.S. adults respond overwhelmingly that they are sports fans," study co-author Chris Knoester said in a news release.
"Sports fandom is an ingrained part of our culture and central in the lives of many people," said Knoester, an associate professor of sociology at Ohio State University.
Unlike previous studies of sports fandom, the Ohio State survey included a large number of responses from people identifying as gay and lesbian.
The survey also featured a large number of responses from people identifying as nonbinary in terms of their gender identity.
"It allowed us to show that while heterosexual men are particularly likely to identify as strong sports fans, there are substantial numbers of people across gender and sexual identities who are also passionate fans," said lead study author Rachel Allison, an associate professor of sociology at Mississippi State University.
The data analyzed by Allison and her research partners was pulled from the National Sports and Society Survey, conducted by researchers at Ohio State's Sports and Society Initiative.
Because the survey's respondents were a majority female, white and from the Midwest, researchers had to adjust the data to extrapolate estimates for national sports fandom.
Researchers found that while heterosexual and lesbian women, as well as gay men, were more likely to label themselves "somewhat" of sports fans, heterosexual men were more likely to claim themselves "quite a bit" of sports fans.
But the data also showed women, regardless of sexual orientation, were plenty interested in sports.
"Identifying as lesbian does not seem to discourage sports fandom like identifying as gay does for men," Allison said.
The researchers also found sports fandom was influenced by childhood experiences.
Those who played sports and thought about sports a lot during adolescence were more likely to be sports fans as adults. Conversely, people who reported being bullied or called names during athletic activities were less likely to be sports fans as adults.
Researchers were surprised to find that these negative experiences did not correlate neatly with gender or sexual orientation.
"We've clearly moved beyond the era of open hostility to women, lesbians and gay men in sports," Allison said. "But the extent to which we've moved from tolerant to fully inclusive cultures isn't necessarily clear. We may be in this period of transition."
Researchers said sports groups can still do more to make sports a place of acceptation and inclusion for people with different gender and sexual identities.
"You aren't born being a sports fan," said Knoester. "The differences in fandom we found here in this study are socially and culturally produced to a great extent, and they can be changed."
