Adolescent sport participation and alcohol use: The importance of sport organization and the wider social context

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between adolescent sport participation and alcohol use, focusing on differences in sport contexts. We also include the wider social context, the role of peers and parents as key variables in our analysis. Our sample consists of a nationally representative sample of 10,992 Icelandic adolescents. The findings indicate that adolescents that participate in formally organized sport clubs are less likely to use alcohol than those that do not. The results obtained for participation in informal sport are in the reverse direction, indicating that adolescents that do only informal sport are more likely to use alcohol than those that do not. Moreover, it was found that the well-known relationship between adolescent alcohol use and having alcohol-using friends was contingent on formal sport participation. We also find that the influence of low parental monitoring and time spent with parents and broken family structure on alcohol use becomes significantly weaker with greater involvement in formal sport. In other words, sport participation in formal sport is more relevant for those groups of adolescents that are at most risk for using alcohol, since it buffers the effects of known risk factors on alcohol use. Participation in informal sport does not, however, show such buffering effects. The findings further highlight the need to consider the wider social context as well as differences in sport organization and sport contexts while studying the potential effects of sports on adolescent alcohol use.

Coaches’ Health Promotion Activity and Substance Use in Youth Sports

“…This finding is in line with previous research whereby the sports club offer an environment favourable for adopting a healthy lifestyle [2]. Halldorsson and colleagues [38] suggested taking part in sports clubs buffers overall alcohol use, particularly when alcohol consumption is contingent on having friends that consume alcohol.…”

“…This study is part of the multidisciplinary Health Promoting Sports Club (HPSC) study conducted in Finland by the University of Jyväskylä with six sports and exercise medicine centres and the UKK Institute [38]. Participants aged between 14-16 years old from the 10 most popular sports in Finland were asked to participate in the study during 2013.…”

Understanding How Organized Youth Sport May Be Harming Individual Players within the Family Unit: A Literature Review

“…lower) socio-economic neighborhoods. Further, in a study conducted with Icelandic secondary students, Halldorsson et al [ 126 ] compared alcohol use throughout adolescence in three different groups: adolescents involved in formally organized sport clubs (referred to as ‘organized sport’ in North America), those involved in informally organized sport activities, and those not involved in sport. Results revealed that youth who participated in formally organized sport clubs were less likely to use alcohol than those who did not participate in these clubs.…”

Population trends in smoking, alcohol use and primary prevention variables among adolescents in Iceland, 1997–2014

“…Participation in organized sports with a club or team was assessed with the question: ‘How often do you participate in sports with a club or a team?’ (1 = almost never, 2 = once per week, 3 = 2–3 times per week, 4 = 4–6 times per week and 5 = almost every day). It should be noted that sports teams in Iceland are area‐ and/or neighborhood‐based clubs, not school teams, and are supervised by responsible and well‐trained adults .…”

“…Every 3 years the ICSRA surveys, entitled ‘Youth in Iceland’ , focus on broad categories of interest . For the purposes of this report, those categories include: (a) substance use, where measurement is similar to the Monitoring the Future surveys being conducted in the United States and the ESPAD surveys in Europe ; (b) protective factors for substance use, with focus on factors that have been known to decrease the odds of substance use among teens, such as parental support, monitoring and co‐communication, school wellbeing and participation in constructive recreational and extracurricular activities such as organized sports ; and (c) risk factors for substance use such as unsupervised idle hours, party life‐style and peer substance use .…”