ArticlePloS one2022
Associations between organized sport participation and mental health difficulties: Data from over 11,000 US children and adolescents.
Article in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 64 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
64 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 102 citations in OpenAlex.
- 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
- Health-related outcomes of youth sport participation: a systematic review and meta-analysis.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2025Pooled it
- Muscle morphological adaptations to resistance training and sports participation in children and adolescents: a scoping review.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of a 12-Week Physical Activity Intervention on Psychological Symptoms in Adolescents.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Trial
- Adverse Childhood Experiences and Youth Sports Participation: Variations Across Demographic Characteristics.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2026Article
- 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
- Mental Health and Health-Related Behavioral Patterns Surrounding a Major International Sporting Event: An Observational Study.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Kids These Days! A Cross-Temporal Meta-Analysis of Changes in Emotional and Behavioral Problems of Population-Based Samples Over the Past Decades.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2026Review
- 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
- Exercise in Sickle Cell Disease: The Impact on Pathophysiology and Clinical Symptoms.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Problematic social media use, mental health, and substance use in Czech adolescents: the comparative role of extracurricular activities - findings from the 2022 HBSC study.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2026Article
- Participation Mediates the Relationship Between Family Climate and Mental Well-Being Amongst Children with and Without Disability in a Cross-Sectional Swedish Registry-Based Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Latent profile analysis of physical activity and mental health among chinese high school adolescents.Scientific reports · 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
- The interplay of actual and perceived motor competencies, physical activity and well-being: a child-centered approach.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Associations Between Genetic Risk, Physical Activities, and Distressing Psychotic-like Experiences.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2026Article
- Sports as a pathway to wellness: sports and health-related quality of life among adolescents in Germany (a cross-sectional analysis from GeWIT Study).BMC public health · 2026Article
- Emotional intelligence mediates the relationship between sport type and social anxiety in adolescents.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Article
- Cost to play community-level sport in Australia.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
4 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore the association between participation in organized sport and a broad array of mental health difficulties among US children and adolescents. The data (cross-sectional) were from Data Release 3.0 (one-year follow-up visits on the full cohort) of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study-a broadly representative sample of 11,235 US children and adolescents aged 9 to 13 years. Parents/guardians provided self-reports of their child's mental health difficulties using the Child Behavior Checklist. To assess participation in organized sport, children and adolescents were categorized into one of four groups: 1) participation in team sport, 2) participation in individual sport, 3) participation in team and individual sport, and 4) non-sport participation. Participation in team sport compared to non-sport participation was associated with 10% lower anxious/depressed scores, 19% lower withdrawn/depressed scores, 17% lower social problems scores, 17% lower thought problems scores, and 12% lower attention problems scores. Participation in team sport compared to non-sport participation was also associated with 20% lower rule-breaking behavior scores for females (compared to males). Conversely, participation in individual sport compared to non-sport participation was associated with 16% higher anxious/depressed scores, 14% higher withdrawn/depressed scores, 12% higher social problems scores, and 14% higher attention problems scores. Participation in both team and individual sport compared to non-sport participation was associated with 17% lower rule-breaking behavior scores for females (compared to males). Results indicate that team sport participation was associated with fewer mental health difficulties, whereas individual sport participation was associated with greater mental health difficulties. The findings complement previous research suggesting that team sport participation may be a vehicle to support child and adolescent mental health. Additional research is needed to determine to what extent, and under what circumstances, participation in individual sport may be problematic for younger cohorts.
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