Moderate Involvement In Sports Is Related To Lower Depression Levels Among Adolescents

Adolescence, Winter, 2000 by Christopher E. Sanders, Tiffany M. Field, Miguel Diego, Michele Kaplan

The authors would like to thank the students who participated in this study. They are also grateful to Christy Cullen and Angelica Escalona for assisting with data collection. This research was supported by an NIMH Senior Research Scientist Award (MH00331) to Tiffany Field, and funding from Johnson and Johnson.

Christopher E. Sanders, Tiffany M. Field, Miguel Diego, and Michele Kaplan, Touch Research Institutes.

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                             Demographic Data
                   Sports Involvement
                          Low         Moderate High [[chi].sup.2]
Gender (%)                                               .24
  Male                     24            38      38
  Female                   40            34      26
Ethnicity (%)                                            .18
  Caucasian                38            38      24
  African-American          0            67      33
  Hispanic                 12            44      44
  Asian                    50             0      50
  Other                    25             0      75
SES (%)                                                  .85
  Low                      29            29      42
  Low Middle                0           100       0
  Middle                   50            20      30
  Upper Middle             32            39      29
  High                     32            36      32
                    Mean Scores and Standard Deviations
                                           Sports Involvement
                                          Low              Moderate
Variables                               M (SD)              M (SD)
Depression                        28.9 [(11.9).sub.a] 20.1  [(9.0).sub.b]
Intimacy with Parents and Friends 86.6 [(17.8).sub.a] 84.4 [(12.9).sub.a]
Grade Point Average                3.1  [(0.9).sub.a]  3.1  [(0.8).sub.a]
                                         High
Variables                               M (SD)
Depression                        23.2 [(12.7).sub.b]
Intimacy with Parents and Friends 77.2 [(23.1).sub.a]
Grade Point Average                2.8  [(1.2).sub.a]
Note. Different subscripts indicate significant group
differences (post hoc t test, p [less than] .05).