Association between teens' sports participation and likelihood of engaging in dangerous or unhealthy behaviors

Background: Teens' sports participation has obvious benefits in promoting physical activity, but is not always associated with healthy lifestyle choices. This study examines the association between sports team participation, alcohol use, fighting and other risky behaviors for American adolescents. Methods: Survey responses from a nationally representative sample of U.S. high school students were obtained from the 2007 Youth Risk Behavioral Survey. Logistic regression analysis examined relationships between sports team participation and a range of risky behaviors, while controlling for grade and race and stratifying by gender. Results: Sixty percent of males and 48% of females participated in team sports in the past year. For males overall and subsets of Black and White males, sports team participation was associated with increased levels of fighting, drinking, and binge drinking. For White females, sports team participation was associated with decreased levels of fighting, depression, smoking, marijuana use, and unhealthy weight loss practices. For Black females, sports team participation was only associated with increased binge drinking (OR 1.4). Conclusions: Sports team participation appears to have both protective and risk-enhancing associations, primarily for White high schoolers. Results indicate that healthy lifestyle benefits are not universal and do not apply equally across genders or racial/ethnic groups.