Sport participation and smoking in adolescence: A longitudinal analysis

Organized sport is popular among youth in the United States, but participation declines throughout adolescence and into young adulthood when adolescents commonly initiate cigarette smoking. Few longitudinal studies have examined the relationship between sport and smoking, and existing studies are limited by multiple years between data collections. This study examines whether sport participation predicts cigarette use among participants in the Minnesota Adolescent Community Cohort (MACC) study, a population-based observational cohort study of tobacco use among youth in Minnesota and five other upper Midwestern states in the United States. Data were collected at 6-month intervals beginning in 2000. Analysis was conducted on data from 6 rounds of data collection using a cohort-sequential (accelerated design) specification to link adjacent longitudinal data from different age cohorts to approximate a long-term longitudinal study of youth ages 13 to 17. Analysis was conducted with MPLUS statistical software using autoregressive cross-lagged panel models with two autoregressive lags covering 6-month and one year time intervals and cross-lags of 6-month length. Sport participation declined significantly from early to late adolescence, while cigarette smoking increased significantly. Sport participation was negatively associated with smoking, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Dropping out of sports did not predict smoking. However, smoking predicted dropout from sport. Findings were similar for males and females. Sport settings provide opportunities for prevention of smoking among adolescents. Additional research is needed to understand the specific risk-conferring aspects of dropping out of sport to help inform prevention efforts.