Table 4.
Associations between sport participation and mental health problems (psychological distress, low self-esteem and low life satisfaction) among girls and boys in junior and senior high school
| Sport participation | Outcome | |||
| Junior high school | Senior high school | |||
| Unadjusted | Adjusted‡ | Unadjusted | Adjusted‡ | |
| OR (95% CI) for psychological distress* |
||||
| Girls | ||||
| No sport | 1.0 (Reference) | 1.0 (Reference) | 1.0 (Reference) | 1.0 (Reference) |
| Individual sports | 1.06 (0.70 to 1.60) | 1.09 (0.68 to 1.73) | 0.87 (0.61 to 1.22) | 0.93 (0.64 to 1.35) |
| Team sports | 0.78 (0.53 to 1.14) | 1.02 (0.66 to 1.56) | 0.56 (0.40 to 0.78) | 0.70 (0.49 to 1.00) |
| Boys | ||||
| No sport | 1.0 (Reference) | 1.0 (Reference) | 1.0 (Reference) | 1.0 (Reference) |
| Individual sports | 1.04 (0.56 to 1.95) | 1.04 (0.52 to 2.09) | 0.85 (0.49 to 1.49) | 0.98 (0.51 to 1.88) |
| Team sports | 0.55 (0.31 to 0.99) | 0.60 (0.31 to 1.15) | 0.57 (0.34 to 0.96) | 0.93 (0.50 to 1.70) |
| OR (95% CI) for low self-esteem† |
||||
| Girls | ||||
| No sport | 1.0 (Reference) | 1.0 (Reference) | 1.0 (Reference) | 1.0 (Reference) |
| Individual sports | 0.52 (0.37 to 0.75) | 0.55 (0.37 to 0.81) | 0.77 (0.53 to 1.11) | 0.81 (0.55 to 1.20) |
| Team sports | 0.42 (0.30 to 0.57) | 0.45 (0.32 to 0.64) | 0.50 (0.35 to 0.71) | 0.57 (0.39 to 0.84) |
| Boys | ||||
| No sport | 1.0 (Reference) | 1.0 (Reference) | 1.0 (Reference) | 1.0 (Reference) |
| Individual sports | 1.11 (0.62 to 1.99) | 1.43 (0.73 to 2.79) | 0.42 (0.22 to 0.82) | 0.37 (0.18 to 0.76) |
| Team sports | 0.53 (0.30 to 0.92) | 0.72 (0.38 to 1.36) | 0.47 (0.27 to 0.81) | 0.57 (0.32 to 1.03) |
| OR (95% CI) for low life satisfaction |
||||
| Girls | ||||
| No sport | 1.0 (Reference) | 1.0 (Reference) | 1.0 (Reference) | 1.0 (Reference) |
| Individual sports | 0.70 (0.51 to 0.96) | 0.71 (0.50 to 1.00) | 0.66 (0.48 to 0.91) | 0.65 (0.46 to 0.91) |
| Team sports | 0.46 (0.34 to 0.61) | 0.51 (0.37 to 0.70) | 0.48 (0.36 to 0.65) | 0.55 (0.40 to 0.76) |
| Boys | ||||
| No sport | 1.0 (Reference) | 1.0 (Reference) | 1.0 (Reference) | 1.0 (Reference) |
| Individual sports | 1.00 (0.68 to 1.46) | 0.99 (0.65 to 1.52) | 0.84 (0.55 to 1.29) | 0.80 (0.50 to 1.28) |
| Team sports | 0.56 (0.39 to 0.79) | 0.63 (0.43 to 0.93) | 0.62 (0.42 to 0.92) | 0.72 (0.47 to 1.12) |
Bold numbers: statistically significant associations, p<0.05.
*SCL5 ≥2 (range 0–4).
†RSES <10 (range 4–16).
‡ Adjusted for age, puberty score (PDS), socioeconomic status, prior physical violence, prior bullying, prior sexual abuse.
PDS, Pubertal Development Scale; RSES, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale; SCL-5, Symptom Check List Five items.