Sexual Activity and Substance Use Among Adolescents by Category of Physical Activity Plus Team Sports Participation

This study was conducted in order to determine whether being both vigorously active and a team sports participant or being vigorously physically active but not a team member is associated with substance use and sexual risk behaviors. Nationwide, 41.9% of the students were both physically active and participants on a sports team, 22.1% were physically active but not sports team members, 12.6% were physically nonactive sports team members, and 22.3% were physically nonactive and not sports team members. The research found that more female than male students were considered nonactive, and more male students were both physically active and participants in team sports than were female students. Black students were more likely to be physically nonactive in both the team and non- team categories than were students overall. Overall, being both physically active and a team sports participant was associated with a lower prevalence of several health risk behaviors. Compared with nonactive nonteam female students, physically active female students on sports teams were less likely to be sub- stance users or engage in sexual risk behaviors than were active nonteam and nonactive team female students.

File(s): 

905.pdf