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Sporty boys have fewer mental health problems-Researchers

 

Young boys who play sport are less likely to experience mental health issues as they grow up, a study claims.

Researchers found that lads who participate in sports before they even start school are less likely to experience depressive and anxiety symptoms  or ’emotional distress’ between the ages of five and 12.

The findings also suggest that boys who experience less distress as they grow up are also likely to be more active in early adolescence.

However, there was no similar correlation in girls between participation in sport and mental health.

Study leader Marie-Josee Harbec who conducted the study of 690 boys and 748 girls as a doctoral student supervised by Professor Linda Pagani at the University of Montreal in Canada  said: ‘There’s widespread evidence of a crisis these days in childhood physical inactivity, and this may ultimately have implications for later mental and physical health.’

The findings were published in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioural Paediatrics.

The researchers examined the sporting and physical activity habits reported by youngsters aged five and 12, as well as by their parents.

They also looked at symptoms of emotional distress from age six to 10 that were reported by the participants’ teachers.

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Study senior author Prof Pagani added: ‘We found that five-year-old boys who never participated in sports were more likely between the ages of six and 10 to look unhappy and tired, had difficulty having fun, cried a lot, and appeared fearful or worried.

‘Also, boys who exhibited higher levels of depressive and anxious symptoms during middle childhood were subsequently less physically active at 12-years-old. For girls, on the other hand, we did not find any significant changes.’

Parents of 690 boys and 748 girls born in the Canadian province of Quebec in 1997 and 1998 reported their participation in sport at age five and their weekly level of physical activity at age 12.

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