Lifestyle characteristics in adolescent female football players: data from the Karolinska football Injury Cohort

Abstract

Background Normative values of lifestyle characteristics in adolescent female football players may be used by clinicians and coaches to take actions because the potential important for well-being, performance on the pitch, and risk of injury. The aim was to report descriptive characteristics of lifestyle factors in adolescent female football players and potential changes over 1 year. Methods We included 419 adolescent competitive female football players from 12 clubs and 27 teams (age 14 ± 1 years, range 12–17 years) and 286 were followed over 1 year. The players completed an extensive questionnaire regarding demographics, football-related factors, and lifestyle factors including tobacco consumption, alcohol use, medicine intake, eating and sleeping habits, well-being, stress, coping, and passion. Baseline data are presented for the total cohort and separately for 4 age groups (12, 13, 14, and 15–17 years). Results 12% skipped breakfast, 8% skipped lunch and 11% used protein supplements several days per week. 16% slept less than 8 h/night, 8% had impaired sleep with daytime consequences, and 22% stated that they were tired in daily activities several days per week. 32% experienced stress some or most days/week and 24% were classified as having psychological distress. Medicine intake (23% vs. 34%), skipping breakfast or lunch several days per week (10% vs. 47% and 20 vs. 33%), tiredness (20% vs. 27%), stress (26% vs. 40%), and psychological distress (27% vs. 37%) increased significantly (P = 0.031 to < 0.001) at the 1-year follow-up. Conclusion Many adolescent female football players skip breakfast and lunch, have insufficient sleep, experience stress and are classified as having psychological distress. These factors increased over 1 year.

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“…Dietary habits, energy intake, and metabolism were always clustered as one or more themes in performance studies, but there was also a strong presence of studies demonstrating a link between these themes and injury ( Cavarretta et al, 2018 ; Faltstrom et al, 2022 ). This cluster could be found in both periods, with the primary approach being the relationship to injury, which can be influenced by behaviors related to diet.…”

“…Importantly, (Silva et al, 2017) reported that the interaction between a player's style of play and the surface condition of the turf may be a contributing factor to injury. Multiple studies have been published on the relationship between turf type and injury prevalence, as well as literature reviews and meta-analyses, and to date, research continues to be attempted (Calloway et al, 2019) Dietary habits, energy intake, and metabolism were always clustered as one or more themes in performance studies, but there was also a strong presence of studies demonstrating a link between these themes and injury (Cavarretta et al, 2018;Faltstrom et al, 2022). This cluster could be found in both periods, with the primary approach being the relationship to injury, which can be influenced by behaviors related to diet.…”

Factors Influencing the Likelihood of Alcohol and Tobacco Use in Adolescent Athletes: Type of Sport, Age, and Action Tendencies in Sport

“…Based on the results of previous studies, 14-16-year-old adolescents are at higher risk of developing the habit of smoking [34] and the co-occurrence of smoking and drinking [32,35]. A recent study conducted with adolescent female football players observed that few players used tobacco and alcohol, but drinking alcohol appeared to increase with age [36]. The results of the present work also highlight the problematic situation that 16-year-old athletes could be facing when it comes to alcohol and tobacco use.…”