Adults who continuously played organized sports through their youth have fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression than those who never played or those who dropped out, a new study finds. And those who dropped out of sports had poorer mental health than those who never played at all. But many more people drop out of youth sports than play continuously until they are 18, said Chris Knoester, senior author of the study and professor of sociology at The Ohio State University.
If you play and stick with sports, it's a positive for your mental health, but if you play and drop out it seems to be negative – and most kids drop out." Chris Knoester, senior author of the study and professor of sociology, The Ohio State University The study, published today (June 26, 2024) in the Sociology of Sport Journal , showed that most people dropped out of sports because they weren't having fun or felt they weren't good enough. That suggests ways youth sports can be improved to help kids, said study lead author Laura Upenieks, assistant professor of sociology at Baylor University.
"Our findings about why kids drop out of organized sports suggests that the current environment is less than ideal for everyone, and that the barriers to participation need to be given greater attention," Upenieks said. The study used data from the National Sports and Society Survey, conducted in 2018 and 2019 by Ohio State. It included a sample of 3,931 adults from across the country who answered questions about their.