Figure 1. Percentages of Youths Aged 12 to 17 Reporting Participation in Team Sports During the Past Year, by Gender: 2000
Figure 2. Percentages of Youths Aged 12 to 17 Reporting Participation in Team Sports During the Past Year, by Age Group: 2000
February 8, 2002 |
| Team Sports Participation and Substance Use Among Youths |
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In Brief |
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| The 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) asked youths aged 12 to 17 whether they participated during the 12 months before the survey interview in team sports, such as football, basketball, swimming, or gymnastics. Respondents were also queried about use of tobacco, alcohol, or any illicit drug during the past month. "Any illicit drug" refers to the use of marijuana/hashish, cocaine (including crack), inhalants, hallucinogens (including PCP and LSD), heroin, or any prescription-type psychotherapeutic used nonmedically during the past month. Moreover, youths were asked to report how they felt about someone their own age smoking one or more packs of cigarettes per day, having one or two drinks of an alcoholic beverage nearly every day, or trying marijuana/hashish once or twice. The three response categories were (a) strongly disapprove, (b) somewhat disapprove, and (c) neither approve nor disapprove. For this report, the first two categories are combined and referred to as "disapprove." |
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Sports Participation Among Youths The 2000 NHSDA estimated that more than 14 million youths (56 percent) aged 12 to 17 participated in team sports during the past year. Males (67 percent) were more likely to participate than females (56 percent) (Figure 1), as were American Indians/Alaska Natives (69 percent) and whites (63 percent) compared with blacks (61 percent), Hispanics (56 percent), and Asians (54 percent). The proportion of youths who participated in team sports during the past year decreased with increasing age, from 67 percent of youths aged 12 or 13 to 54 percent of youths aged 16 or 17 (Figure 2). |
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Figure 1. Percentages of Youths Aged 12 to 17 Reporting Participation in Team Sports During the Past Year, by Gender: 2000 |
Figure 2. Percentages of Youths Aged 12 to 17 Reporting Participation in Team Sports During the Past Year, by Age Group: 2000 |
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Substance Use Among Youths Who Participated in Sports Prior research has linked sports participation among youths to a decreased risk of substance use.1 Results from the 2000 NHSDA corroborated this finding. For instance, 6 percent of youths who participated in team sports during the past year reported past month marijuana use compared with 10 percent of youths who did not participate (Figure 3). The rate of past month alcohol use was also lower among youths who participated in team sports during the past year (16 percent) than among youths who did not (18 percent), as were rates of binge alcohol use (10 vs. 12 percent) and heavy alcohol use (2 vs. 3 percent).2 Similarly, rates of past month cigarette or cigar use were lower among youths who participated in team sports during the past year than among youths who did not (Table 1). However, the rate of past month smokeless tobacco use was higher among youths who participated in team sports than it was among youths who did not.
Disapproval of Peer Substance Use Youths who participated in teams sports during the past year were more likely than youths who did not participate to disapprove of someone their own age smoking one or more packs of cigarettes per day, having one or two drinks of an alcoholic beverage nearly every day, or trying marijuana/hashish once or twice (Figure 4). Past research suggests that unfavorable attitudes about substance use are linked with lower rates of use among youths.3
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End Notes 1 Pate, R.R., Trost, S.G., Levin, S., & Dowda, M. (2000). Sports participation and health-related behaviors among U.S. youth. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 154, 904-911. 2 "Binge" alcohol use is defined as drinking five or more drinks on the same occasion on at least 1 day in the past 30 days. By "occasion" is meant at the same time or within a couple of hours of each other. "Heavy" alcohol use is defined as drinking five or more drinks on the same occasion on each of 5 or more days in the past 30 days; all heavy alcohol users are also binge alcohol users. 3 Hawkins, J.D., Catalano, R.F., & Miller, J.Y. (1992). Risk and protective factors for alcohol and other drug problems in adolescence and early adulthood: Implications for substance abuse prevention. Psychological Bulletin, 112(1), 64-105. Figure and Table Notes *Any illicit drug indicates use at least once of marijuana/hashish, cocaine (including crack), heroin, hallucinogens (including LSD and PCP), inhalants, or any prescription-type psychotherapeutic used nonmedically. Any illicit drug other than marijuana indicates use at least once of any of these listed drugs, regardless of marijuana/hashish use; marijuana/hashish users who also have used any of the other drugs listed are included. **Binge alcohol use is defined as drinking five or more drinks on the same occasion on at least 1 day in the past 30 days. By "occasion" is meant at the same time or within a couple of hours of each other. ***Heavy alcohol use is defined as drinking 5 or more drinks on the same occasion on each of 5 or more days in the past 30 days; all heavy alcohol users are also binge alcohol users. Source (all figs/table): SAMHSA 2000 NHSDA.
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This page was last updated on December 31, 2008. |
