Sports, Teens and Drinking

Contradicting what most parents might think, participation in team sports doesn’t necessarily result in teenage boys adopting healthier behaviors.

Instead, new research finds that it is actually associated with increased fighting and drinking among boys – the results of the survey is much better for teen girls.

The study, which was presented at the American Public Health Association’s 137th Annual Meeting and Exposition in Philadelphia surveyed a nationally representative sample of more than 13,000 high school students across the United States to examine the association between sports team participation and risky behaviors.

Of the male respondents, 60.5 percent reported participation in team sports in the past year. For these young men, sports team participation was associated with increased levels of self-reported fighting, drinking and binge drinking. However, participation was also associated with decreased levels of depression and smoking.

Of the female high school students, 48 percent reported participation on one or more sports team in the past year. For this group, sports team participation was associated with decreased levels of fighting, depression, smoking, marijuana use and unhealthy weight loss practices. There was no association between sports team participation and drinking for female students.

“Sports team participation appears to have both protective and risk-enhancing associations,” said Susan M. Connor, PhD, lead researcher on the study. “These results indicate that healthy lifestyle benefits are not universal and do not apply equally across genders.”

Correlation doesn’t mean causation, however, and adults can do a lot to make sure the students they influence have a healthy high school and team sport experience.

Joey Levin, the Health Office clerk at Calabasas High School, says that her observation of students at CHS is that, “kids that use alcohol, drugs and engage in violence come from all different types of environments: parents who are involved and those who aren’t, all socio-economic categories, club and team members, loners – there’s no one major factor.”

“Parents and faculty who are aware of what’s going on are able to address potential problems before they get too big,” Levin adds. A quick response to last spring’s Baseball team hazing incident by the school staff and the J-Team is also cited as important in increasing awareness and reducing Sport-related violence.

For her part, Levin has put together a quarterly “R.A.P” where “parents and others adults can vent, gather information and be aware of the student environment. We have a spirited conversation and are given many different points-of-view.” A recent RAP session included J-Team (The LA County Sheriff’s Juvenile Intervention Team) and a counselor that helps parents understand their teenagers better. RAP is intended for adults only – look for the next session early 2010.

• [About]
• [Advertisements]
• [Contact]
• [Forum]
• [Publishing Program Agreement]
• [Writer Guidelines]
• [RSS Feed]