Do sports help or hinder kids' mental health? Depends on the sport, new study says

Participating in organized team sports may contribute to better mental health in children, according to a large U.S. study. However, “individual sport participation was associated with greater mental health difficulties,” researchers wrote in a study published in PLOS One. There is a long-sanding debate about whether youth gain mental health benefits from organized sports of whether the potential for outcomes such as anxiety, maltreatment and burnout are more likely. Read: Trans kids' treatment can start younger, new guidelines say Using the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, researchers used data for a broadly representative sample of 11,235 children and adolescents aged nine to 13 years from across the U.S. The ABCD study is a longitudinal study examining brain development and overall health in children aged nine to10 years through early adulthood. Mental health status was assessed by use of the Child Behavior Checklist which was self-reported by parents or guardians. Parents or guardians also filled out questionnaires about their children’s participation in organized sports. The cohort was divided into four categories: participation in a team sport (29.8% of the cohort); participation in individual sport (21.1%); participation in team and individual sport (15.6%); and finally, no sport participation (33.6%). It was found that participation in team sport was associated with 10% lower average scores for anxiety and depression; 19% lower on withdrawn and depressed scores; 17% lower social problems scores, 17% lower thought problems scores, and 12% lower attention problems scores compared to those who did not participate in sports. Those who participated in individual sports such as tennis or wrestling had 16% higher anxious-depressed scores; 14% higher withdrawn-depressed scores; 12% higher social problems scores, and 14% higher attention problems scores than those not participating in sports. “To our knowledge little to no research has reported that sport played independently may in fact be problematic for mental health relative to non-sport participation. It is possible that some children and adolescents who compete in individual sports experience significant stress associated with performing independently, which could contribute to mental health problems,” the study said. The authors noted that some other studies showed mental health benefits of individual sport participation. Read: COVID-19 long haulers still experience symptoms 15 months after infection

Do sports help or hinder kids' mental health? Depends on the sport, new study says

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