Do Sports Protect Youth from Risky Behaviors?

Using 1991 Youth Risk Behavior Survey information from over 12,000 youth nationwide in grades 9-12, researchers found that school-sponsored sports teams had a positive influence in many risk areas. All information was based on anonymous self-reporting. Of all the respondents, half (50.8 percent) of boys and 27 percent of girls reported being on at least one team.

Both boys and girls who reported being on one or more teams were less likely to have smoked or used illegal drugs than those on no school sports teams within the past year. However, boys who participated on sports teams were more likely to use smokeless tobacco and steroids.

Sports participation was not significantly associated with the likelihood of no prior sexual intercourse, but girls who participated on at least one team were less likely to have ever had an STD or been pregnant. For boys, there was no significant difference between those on a sports team and non-participants with regard to having had an STD or creating a pregnancy. Of all male and female students who had had sexual intercourse, those involved in sports were more likely to not have had four or more partners as well as more likely to have used a condom during last intercourse.

Both boys and girls on sports teams were less likely than non-participants to have carried a weapon in the past month or to have attempted suicide in the past year.

(Page RM et al. Is school sports participation a protective factor against adolescent health risk behaviors? J Health Educ 1998;29(3):186-192)

COMMENT: Encouraging participation in sports teams is wise for many reasons, but school staff should not assume that sports will "take their minds off sex." Furthermore, media indicates that professional male athletes are pursued by some young women to father their children, and local experience with outstanding high school athletes is consistent with those reports.