Matt D. Hoffmann|Joel D. Barnes|Mark S. Tremblay|Michelle Guerrero
Associations between organized sport participation and mental health difficulties: Data from over 11,000 US children and adolescents
California State University, Fullerton|Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario|University of Ottawa|Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario
purpose study explore association participation organized sport broad array mental health difficulties among us children adolescents data crosssectional data release 30 oneyear followup visits full cohort adolescent brain cognitive development abcd studya broadly representative sample 11235 us children adolescents aged 9 13 years parentsguardians provided selfreports childs mental health difficulties using child behavior checklist assess participation organized sport children adolescents categorized one four groups 1 participation team sport 2 participation individual sport 3 participation team individual sport 4 nonsport participation participation team sport compared nonsport participation associated 10 lower anxiousdepressed scores 19 lower withdrawndepressed scores 17 lower social problems scores 17 lower thought problems scores 12 lower attention problems scores participation team sport compared nonsport participation also associated 20 lower rulebreaking behavior scores females compared males conversely participation individual sport compared nonsport participation associated 16 higher anxiousdepressed scores 14 higher withdrawndepressed scores 12 higher social problems scores 14 higher attention problems scores participation team individual sport compared nonsport participation associated 17 lower rulebreaking behavior scores females compared males results indicate team sport participation associated fewer mental health difficulties whereas individual sport participation associated greater mental health difficulties findings complement previous research suggesting team sport participation may vehicle support child adolescent mental health additional research needed determine extent circumstances participation individual sport may problematic younger cohorts