Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
School of Psychology, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia.
J Youth Adolesc. 2021 Jul;50(7):1450-1463. doi: 10.1007/s10964-021-01416-0. Epub 2021 Mar 10.
Youth sport offers physical and psychosocial components that may be beneficial for adolescents' mental health, but the prospective directionality between sport participation and mental health has not been clearly established. The current study examined longitudinal associations between sport participation (individual and team sport) and mental health indices (depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, emotional symptoms, hyperactivity symptoms, conduct problems, peer problems, and prosocial behavior) across adolescence (ages 12-17) in a nationally representative Australian sample of 3956 participants at T1 (M = 12.41 years, SD = 0.49; 49% female), 3537 at T2 (M = 14.41 years, SD = 0.49; 49% female), and 3089 at T3 (M = 16.46 years, SD = 0.51; 49% female). Using random intercept cross-lagged panel modeling, several significant within-person effects were found. Notably, greater participation in team sport prospectively predicted fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety at subsequent timepoints. This study increases the understanding of how sport participation may relate to mental health among adolescents and provides critical evidence to inform policy.
青少年体育活动提供了身体和社会心理方面的益处，可能有利于青少年的心理健康，但体育参与和心理健康之间的前瞻性方向尚未明确确立。本研究在澳大利亚一个具有全国代表性的样本中，对 3956 名参与者（T1 时的年龄为 12-17 岁，M = 12.41 岁，SD = 0.49；女性占 49%）在整个青春期（T1 时的年龄为 12.41 岁，SD = 0.49；女性占 49%）、3537 名参与者（T2 时的年龄为 14.41 岁，SD = 0.49；女性占 49%）和 3089 名参与者（T3 时的年龄为 16.46 岁，SD = 0.51；女性占 49%）进行了研究，采用随机截距交叉滞后面板模型，发现了几个显著的个体内效应。值得注意的是，团队运动的参与度越高，随后的抑郁和焦虑症状就越少。本研究增加了对青少年体育参与与心理健康之间关系的理解，并为政策提供了重要证据。
