Team Sports Pose Health Risks for Boys Not Girls
New Study Links Male Teen Sport Teams with More Drinking, Fighting
Nov 9, 2009
Team sports —football, basketball, soccer— are good for teenage boys, right? Well, maybe, but there's a downside for some. A broad new study of over 13,000 high school students across the United States has found that sport team participation is correlated with unhealthy behaviors in males, specifically more fighting, drinking alcohol, and binge drinking. In contrast, team sports participation was found to have only positive associations for females in the study.
The findings of this report should be a wake-up call to parents, teachers, coaches and high school counselors. College administrators, too, who have been struggling with widespread alcohol usage on many campuses nationwide, might take a second look at how they evaluate team sport participation when reading applications of high school seniors, particularly boys.
The report did not recommend any specific interventions to reduce the level of violence and drinking associated with boys' high school sports team participation. It also did not specify whether certain sports, such as football, are more highly correlated than other team sports, such as golf, with these unhealthy behaviors.
Reports Shows Team Sports A Mixed Message for Boys Health, Especially Violence and Alcohol
Sixty percent of the males in the study said they had played team sports in the past year, a high percentage. The study found two statistically significant trends. One, that those playing sports were less depressed, and fewer smoked. The other trend was that for these young men, participating in team sports was associated with increased levels of self-reported fighting. It was also associated with increased levels of drinking, and also binge drinking.
Participation in Team Sports Has Positive Impact on Girls' Health, APHA Study Finds
Interestingly, girls in the study reported different impacts of participating on athletic teams. Nearly half, 48%, of the girls in this study said they had participated in one or more sports teams in the past year. In contrast to the boys, for the girls sports team participation was correlated with less fighting. They reported that they were less depressed and were less likely to smoke marijuana or tobacco. In another positive finding, girls participating in team sports said they were less likely to engage in unhealthy weight loss practices. Among girls, there was no association found between participating in team sports and drinking alcohol or binge drinking.
Susan M. Connor, PhD, the lead researcher on the study, said, "Sports team participation appears to have both protective and risk-enhancing associations." She added the study results "indicate that healthy lifestyle benefits" of teen team sports participation "are not universal and do not apply equally across genders."
The method of research used was "self-report" answers to questions, not direct observation. The study findings were presented at APHA, the American Public Health Association's 137th annual meeting in Philadelphia in November 2009.
It's a truism of corporate life that job applicants who played high school or college sports are viewed more favorably by some potential bosses. And the parallels between the language of business and the language of team sports have been the topic of many articles about career success in business. In all, Americans have a positive view of teen team sport participation. And one of the uncontroversial successes of the American feminist movement has been the fact that girls, too, now have many avenues to join sports teams of all kinds, from soccer to basketball to track.
But, like data indicating that domestic violence peaks on Super Bowl Sunday, this new study, while limited, raises some important questions. Is participation in teen sports related to bullying? Or teen sexual peer pressure or violence? Common sense suggests that both may be likely. Teen sport participation is not an unmitigated good, despite the fact that sports are good exercise, and often good for self-esteem, both important concerns in the teen years. The bottom line is that parents and educators need more information. And meanwhile, boys, especially, may need to be coached not just in how to score and be a good team member, but in how to avoid fighting and alcohol abuse, too.
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