Citation

Page RM, Hammermeister J, Scanlan A, Gilbert L. J. Health Educ. 1998; 29(3): 186-192.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance)

DOI

10.1080/10556699.1998.10603332

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between participation in school sports and adolescent health risk behaviors in a nationally representative sample of 12,272 high school students. Male and female students reporting participation on both one or two teams and three or more teams were significantly more likely to have not engaged in cigarette smoking and illegal drug use than those not playing on any sports teams. Although sports participation was not significantly associated with the likelihood of not ever having sexual intercourse, females who played on one or two teams were significantly more likely to have not ever had a sexually transmitted disease and to have not been pregnant. Also, among sexually active students, sports participation was significantly associated with not having four or more sexual partners (both males and females), the nonuse of a condom during last sexual intercourse (both males and females), and the nonuse of a method to prevent pregnancy during last sexual intercourse (males only). In males, sports participation significantly increased the likelihood of smokeless tobacco and steroid use. For both males and females, the likelihood of carrying a weapon in the past 30 days and attempting suicide in the past 12 months was reduced in those who played on one or two teams compared to those not participating in school sports. © 1998 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Language: en