This study attempted to find reasons for the large proportion of dropouts in the federal government's National Summer Youth Sports Program. Selected scales of the Jesness Inventory were administered (value orientation, alienation, denial, and occupational aspiration) at the beginning of the program to 66 11-year-old boys enrolled in a 1971 program at a large southwestern university. Measures of occupational aspiration were taken by categorizing responses to open-ended questions, in accordance with Hollingshead's Two-Factor-Index of Social Position scale. A large proportion of this sample were either Mexican-American in origin or black. The students constituted the entire population of 11-year-olds in the program (males). The data were analyzed using an IBM 36-65 computer. Step-wise multiple discriminant analysis was performed to test the hypothesis that boys who fail to complete the program have a more delinquent psychosocial profile than boys who complete the program. Group 1, those who completed the program, was composed of 27 boys; Group 2, those who failed to complete the program, was composed of 39 boys. Analysis of data supported the hypothesis. The conclusion that the problem lies in the psychological characteristics of the participants is not entirely satisfactory. The use of team sports in the program might result in alienation of the participants on a smaller scale similar to the alienation they experience in the larger social-cultural system. (JA)