ArticleJournal of sport & exercise psychology2020
Adolescent Sport Participation and Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Article in Journal of sport & exercise psychology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 95 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
95 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 175 citations in OpenAlex.
- Bidirectional Relationship Between Mental Health and Sports Injury in Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Pooled it
- The impact of sports participation on psychological health and social outcomes in children and adolescents: a systematic review and update to the "Mental Health through Sport" conceptual model.Systematic reviews · 2026Pooled it
- How do sports participation and sports settings influence the mental health of children and adolescents? A systematic review of qualitative studies.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Impact of structured physical activity on youth's mental health: A review of umbrella reviews.The International journal of social psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Health-related outcomes of youth sport participation: a systematic review and meta-analysis.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2025Pooled it
- The effects of physical activity on the mental health of typically developing children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Understanding significant experiences of adolescent athletes' participation in competitive sports life: a systematic review.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Pooled it
- The Social Side of Sleep: A Systematic Review of the Longitudinal Associations between Peer Relationships and Sleep Quality.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Pooled it
- Effects of wrestling training on psychological well-being, anxiety, and resilience in adolescent boys.BMC psychology · 2026Trial
- Sports team participation in high school and adolescent and young adult depression and anxiety across sex, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.Journal of research on adolescence : the official journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence · 2026Article
- Association of Mental Health, Quality of Life, and Sport Specialization Using the Wisconsin Sport Specialization Questionnaire Among Adolescent Athletes.Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine · 2026Article
- Physical Activity, Academic Stress, and Motivation in Physical Education: A Cross-Sectional Analysis by Sex and Grade Level.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- What we have learned about adolescent mental health and where we are going after a decade with the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2026Review
- Attitudes Towards Sport in Early Adolescence: A Scale Adaptation Study for Sustainable Good Health and Well-Being.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Gambling disorder as a risk factor for suicidal ideation in medical students.Scientific reports · 2026Observational
- Relationship Between Perceived Stress and Anxiety in High School Senior Students: The Mediating Role of Social Support and the Moderating Influence of Lifestyle.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Construction of a mental health literacy evaluation index system for adolescents with mental disorders.World journal of psychiatry · 2026Article
- Challenging stigma and promoting mental health literacy in junior professional sports: an evaluation of an informational event.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Article
- Relationships among sport participation, sport and social competence, and mental health symptomatology.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Article
- Emotional intelligence mediates the relationship between sport type and social anxiety in adolescents.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Article
35 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Sport may protect against symptoms of mental disorders that are increasingly prevalent among adolescents. This systematic review explores the relationship between adolescent organized sport participation and self-reported symptoms of anxiety and depression. From 9,955 records screened, 29 unique articles were selected that included 61 effect sizes and 122,056 participants. Effects were clustered into four categories based on the operationalization of sport involvement: absence or presence of involvement, frequency of involvement, volume of involvement, and duration of participation. Results from the random-effects meta-analyses indicated that symptoms of anxiety and depression were significantly lower among sport-involved adolescents than in those not involved in sport, although this effect size was small in magnitude. Meta-regression was used to identify how age and sex explained heterogeneity in effects. Although these results do not signify a causal effect, they do support theorizing that sport participation during adolescence may be a protective environment against anxiety and depressive symptoms.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.