Adolescence is a pivotal time for investing in both present and future health. Thus, it is important to identify arenas for promoting positive adolescent health behaviors and preventing negative ones. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between organized sports participation (OSP) and a broad range of lifestyle habits in Norwegian adolescents. A comprehensive survey was completed by 13 269 junior high and high school students in southern Norway. Multivariable binary logistic regression models, adjusted for gender, age, and parental education, were used to investigate the associations between OSP and adolescent substance use, dietary habits, physical activity level, passive vs active transportation, screen time, and sleep duration. Inverse associations were found between OSP and adolescent substance use (odds ratio 0.40 [95% confidence interval 0.30‐0.52] to 0.68 [0.61‐0.76]), irregular consumption of main meals (0.58 [0.53‐0.63] to 0.78 [0.70‐0.89]), high intake of unhealthy food and beverages (0.55 [0.47‐0.65] to 0.86 [0.75‐0.98]), low intake of healthy food items (0.57 [0.51‐0.63] to 0.77 [0.70‐0.84]), low physical activity level (0.15 [0.14‐0.17]), high screen‐based activity (0.61 [0.55‐0.67]), passive vs active transportation (summer; 0.79 [0.72‐0.86] and winter; 0.84 [0.77‐0.92]), and short sleep duration, during both weekdays (0.57 [0.52‐0.63]) and weekends (0.79 [0.69‐0.89]). In conclusion, adolescents participating in organized sports had decreased odds for engaging in several unhealthy lifestyle habits compared with non‐participants, indicating that organized sports may be a relevant setting for promoting healthy behaviors among adolescents. Future studies are, however, needed to confirm a possible causal relationship.

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Background: Based on previous research, the aim of this cross-sectional study was to examine the indirect effect of physical activity on psychological distress through appearance evaluation. The indirect effect was hypothesized to be conditional on gender, with the effect being more profound among females than among males. Method: A total of 2055 adolescents (M age = 15.3) completed a self-report questionnaire. Results: Physical activity was indirectly related to psychological distress through appearance evaluation in both males and females, but the indirect effect was stronger for females than for males. Conclusions: Physical activity may prevent distress through enhanced appearance evaluation. Key Practitioner Message:• While the evidence of positive mental health outcomes of physical activity among young people in terms of alleviating psychological distress is amounting, the mechanisms underlying these relationships are not well understood • One possible explanation of the inverse relationship between physical activity and psychological distress may be related to an increase in peoples' appearance evaluation• Findings suggest that participation in physical activity during adolescent years better enables young people to maintain a satisfying level of appearance evaluation, subsequently better preparing them to cope with psychological distressing emotions • A better understanding of mechanisms linking physical activity to mental health is important for the development of optimal intervention programs for young people

Past studies have indicated that multiple factors may influence sport referees' decisions, such as pressure from spectators and athletes' reputation. Grounded in the social impact theory framework, this study examined whether Norwegian Premier League (NPL) referees are biased by a team's success when awarding penalties. Using video footage (similar to video assistant referees), an expert panel (EP) of four NPL referees evaluated all potential penalty situations (N = 43) involving either of two successful teams during an entire NPL season. Fifty-five potential penalty situations from matches without successful teams were also rated. Overall, the match referees identified 73.3% (22 of 30) of the EP-identified penalties during matches without successful teams. Successful teams were awarded 110% (11 of 10) of the EP-identified penalties, while their opponents were awarded 12.5% (1 of 8). Chi square statistic revealed that successful teams were more likely to receive an incorrect penalty compared with their opponents, and less likely to be denied a penalty they should have been awarded. These findings indicate that referees' decisions may be unintentionally biased by a team's success, extending our knowledge about how football referees may be influenced by social forces.