Heather Lochnan, Simon Kitto, Natalia Danilovich, Gary Viner, Allyn Walsh, Ivy F Oandasan, Paul Hendry
Conceptualization of Competency-Based Medical Education Terminology in Family Medicine Postgraduate Medical Education and Continuing Professional Development: A Scoping Review
Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges
internalizing conditions anxiety depression difficulties developing maintaining friendships common among autistic children adolescents participation extracurricular activities may buffer challenges provide naturalistic opportunities bring peers shared interests skills together purpose current study examine associations sport club participation 1 friendship success 2 cooccurring anxiety depression large sample autistic youth secondary analysis performed using data 20182019 national survey childrens health participants 562 autistic children ages 611 years 818 autistic adolescents ages 1217 years within age group series binary logistic regression analyses conducted club participation associated friendship internalizing conditions however participation sports positively associated friendship success among children 207 p 006 adolescents 235 p 001 results also found adolescents participated sports 34 less likely diagnosis depression p 048 findings suggest participation sports may play meaningful role protecting depression adolescence serve context friendship development across childhood adolescence future research address barriers extracurricular activity participation identify specific components sports beneficial autistic youth inform activity offerings development interventions targeting friendship formation mental health outcomes