Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

Teen Boys Drink, Fight More, Girls Less, When Playing Sports

When young people are involved in team sports there are certainly many benefits. Skills are taught and honed, physical fitness is improved, social skills are exercised, teamwork, leadership and discipline are learned. And, the list goes on.

There are injury risks involved with playing sports, but that's about as far as I've gone when thinking about any negative aspects of sport involvement.

Until now.

An interesting new study has revealed that when boys are involved in team sports, they are more likely to engage in at-risk behaviors. The study was gender specific, and girls in fact are less likely to engage in at-risk behaviors when they are involved in sports.

I certainly won't make the leap that because of one study like this, parents should pull their male kids from involvement in sports. But, it is worthwhile to note the findings of the study and give a bit more thought these potential negative outcomes.

Playing team sports increases teenage boys’ likelihood to binge drink and fight, while reducing unhealthy behavior in girls, a new study by the Injury Prevention Center at University Hospitals’ Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland found.

Teen girls who played team sports said they fought less, were depressed less often and didn’t smoke as much. Male athletes who played team sports also reported some benefits, such as less depression and smoking, the organization said in a news release.

The study surveyed 13,000 U.S. high school students to evaluate links between team sports and risky behavior.

The boys playing team sports reported binge-drinking rates 40 percent higher and fighting 30 percent more often than nonathletes. The athlete boys also showed 30 percent lower rates of depression and 20 percent less smoking.

The girls showed no link to drinking in the study, the research reported. The athletic girls showed 10 percent lower rates of fighting, 30 percent less depression, 50 percent less smoking and 10 percent less unhealthy weight loss habits compared with nonathlete girls, the study found.

Source: Bloomberg.com
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601079&sid=aP4ya7B6YYt0

Teens Interest in Olympics? Yawn...

A recent study conducted by the Harris Interactive Youth Center of Excellence shows that just 46% of 13 -18 year olds in the U.S. express an interest in the summer Olympics, including only 27% who say they are extremely or very interested. Teen boys ages 16-18 show the greatest interest and represent the only age group where over half of youth are interested in the sporting event. Teens overall are a larger audience for the Olympics than tweens (ages 8-12) who report only a 28% interest.

Source: Center for Media Research
http://www.mediapost.com/blogs/research_brief/?p=1768

Bicycling, Football Top Sports With Most Childhood Injuries

More than 65,000 children younger than 15 received treatment in an emergency room for skateboarding-related injuries in 2006, according to estimates recently presented by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. In an effort to promote safety, the agency released data on sports-related injuries incurred by kids younger than 15.

The authors, extrapolating from a sample of 100 hospitals across the nation, estimate nearly 240,000 kids 14 and younger were treated for bike-related accidents, the highest number for any sport.

Football resulted in about 221,000 injuries for that age group, baseball almost 85,000 and operating unpowered scooters just over 37,500.

"Injury is arguably the most compelling public health problem facing youth in this country because it is the leading cause of death and acquired disability from ages 1 through 44 years," said Gary Smith, director of the center for injury research and policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. "For the age group they presented, sports and recreation is a very important piece of the injury picture."

Experts estimate that more than 30 million children participate in sports each year in the U.S.

Source: Salt Lake Tribune
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_9417095