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The problem
Intervention: Sports team participation during high school combining physical activity and social belonging
Who it was tested with: 2,766 young adults (52% female, mean age 22.3) from urban US families in the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study.
Children or communities are compared with a group that did not receive the intervention, or followed over years. This is the design that best separates what the intervention did from everything else that changed.
"This study examines both short and long-term associations between sports team participation in adolescence and anxiety and depression from adolescence to young adulthood, using the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a population-based longitudinal birth cohort study of urban US children." The longitudinal design with measurements over time and multiple demographic stratifications provides evidence that is stronger than pre-post designs but limited by the observational nature of the data.
Observational study design cannot establish causation. Benefits in young adulthood appear limited to males, and effect heterogeneity by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status suggests results may not generalise equally across all populations.
Across countries and designs
2 studies · 1 country
