Dataset Information

Factors That Drive Youth Specialization.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Specialization in young athletes has been linked to overuse injuries, burnout, and decreased satisfaction. Despite continued opposition from the medical community, epidemiological studies suggest the frequency is increasing. HYPOTHESIS:Extrinsic pressures in addition to individual aspirations drive this national trend in sports specialization. STUDY DESIGN:Descriptive epidemiology study. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE:Level 3. METHODS:A novel instrument assessing the driving factors behind youth specialization was generated by an interdisciplinary team of medical professionals. Surveys were administered to patients and athletes in the department's sports medicine clinic. RESULTS:The survey was completed by 235 athletes between 7 and 18 years of age, with a mean age of 13.8 ± 3.0 years. Athletes specialized at a mean age of 8.1 years, and 31% of athletes played a single sport while 58% played multiple sports but had a preferred sport. More than 70% of athletes had collegiate or professional ambitions, and 60% played their primary sport for 9 or more months per year, with players who had an injury history more likely to play year-round ( P < 0.01). Approximately one-third of players reported being told by a coach not to participate in other sports, with specialized athletes reporting this significantly more often ( P = 0.04). Half of the athletes reported that sports interfered with their academic performance, with older players stating this more frequently ( P < 0.01). CONCLUSION:Young athletes are increasingly specializing in a single sport before starting high school. While intrinsic drive may identify healthy aspirations, extrinsic influences are prevalent in specialized athletes. CLINICAL RELEVANCE:Extrinsic factors contributing to youth specialization were identified and compounded the deleterious sequelae of youth athlete specialization.

SUBMITTER: Padaki AS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5665117 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov/Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Factors That Drive Youth Specialization.

Padaki Ajay S AS Popkin Charles A CA Hodgins Justin L JL Kovacevic David D Lynch Thomas Sean TS Ahmad Christopher S CS

Sports health 20171012 6

<h4>Background</h4>Specialization in young athletes has been linked to overuse injuries, burnout, and decreased satisfaction. Despite continued opposition from the medical community, epidemiological studies suggest the frequency is increasing.<h4>Hypothesis</h4>Extrinsic pressures in addition to individual aspirations drive this national trend in sports specialization.<h4>Study design</h4>Descriptive epidemiology study.<h4>Level of evidence</h4>Level 3.<h4>Methods</h4>A novel instrument assessin ...[more]

PMID: 29023194

Similar Datasets

Project description:BACKGROUND:The effect of socioeconomic status (SES) on rates of sports specialization and injury among youth athletes has not been described previously. HYPOTHESIS:Young athletes from lower socioeconomic status will have lower rates of sports specialization and subsequently lower risk of overuse injuries. STUDY DESIGN:Cohort study. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE:Level 3. METHODS:Injured athletes aged 7 to 18 years were recruited from 2 hospital-based sports medicine clinics and compared with uninjured athletes presenting for sports physicals at primary care clinics between 2010 and 2013. Participants completed surveys on training patterns. Electronic medical records provided injury details as well as patient zip code, race, and health insurance type. SES was estimated from zip codes. The sample was divided into SES tertiles. Analysis of variance and multivariate regression were used for continuous variables, and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to explore relationships between risk factors and injury. RESULTS:Of 1190 athletes surveyed, 1139 (96%) had satisfactory SES data. Compared with low-SES athletes, high-SES athletes reported more hours per week spent playing organized sports (11.2 ± 6.0 vs 10.0 ± 6.5; P = 0.02), trained more months per year in their main sport (9.7 ± 3.1 vs 7.6 ± 3.7; P < 0.01), were more often highly specialized (38.9% vs 16.6%; P < 0.01), and had increased participation in individual sports (64.8% vs 40.0%; P < 0.01). The proportion of athletes with a greater than 2:1 ratio of weekly hours in organized sports to free play increased with SES. Accounting for age and weekly organized sports hours, the odds of reporting a serious overuse injury increased with SES (odds ratio, 1.5; P < 0.01). CONCLUSION:High-SES athletes reported more serious overuse injuries than low-SES athletes, potentially due to higher rates of sports specialization, more hours per week playing organized sports, higher ratio of weekly hours in organized sports to free play, and greater participation in individual sports. CLINICAL RELEVANCE:As SES increases, young athletes report higher degrees of sports specialization, greater participation in individual sports, and more serious overuse injuries.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Speciation is driven by many different factors. Among those are trade-offs between different ways an organism utilizes resources, and these trade-offs can constrain the manner in which selection can optimize traits. Limited migration among allopatric populations and species interactions can also drive speciation, but here we ask if trade-offs alone are sufficient to drive speciation in the absence of other factors. RESULTS:We present a model to study the effects of trade-offs on specialization and adaptive radiation in asexual organisms based solely on competition for limiting resources, where trade-offs are stronger the greater an organism's ability to utilize resources. In this model resources are perfectly substitutable, and fitness is derived from the consumption of these resources. The model contains no spatial parameters, and is therefore strictly sympatric. We quantify the degree of specialization by the number of ecotypes evolved and the niche breadth of the population, and observe that these are sensitive to resource influx and trade-offs. Resource influx has a strong effect on the degree of specialization, with a clear transition between minimal diversification at high influx and multiple species evolving at low resource influx. At low resource influx the degree of specialization further depends on the strength of the trade-offs, with more ecotypes evolving the stronger trade-offs are. The specialized organisms persist through negative frequency-dependent selection. In addition, by analyzing one of the evolutionary radiations in greater detail we demonstrate that a single mutation alone is not enough to establish a new ecotype, even though phylogenetic reconstruction identifies that mutation as the branching point. Instead, it takes a series of additional mutations to ensure the stable coexistence of the new ecotype in the background of the existing ones. CONCLUSIONS:Trade-offs are sufficient to drive the evolution of specialization in sympatric asexual populations. Without trade-offs to restrain traits, generalists evolve and diversity decreases. The observation that several mutations are required to complete speciation, even when a single mutation creates the new species, highlights the gradual nature of speciation and the importance of phyletic evolution.

Project description:BackgroundSignificant evidence has emerged that sport specialization is associated with an increased risk of overuse injury in youth athletes. Several recommendations exist to reduce the risk of overuse injury in youth sports, but the risk of overuse injuries may be dependent on specific movements required by a given sport.HypothesesAssociations between specialized sport participation and overuse injury will exist in volleyball athletes but not soccer or basketball athletes. Female athletes will be more likely to report an overuse injury in the previous year, regardless of sport.Study designCross-sectional study.Level of evidenceLevel 3.MethodsYouth athletes between the ages of 12 and 18 years were recruited in-person at club team tournaments, competitions, and events around the state of Wisconsin during the 2016-2017 school year. Participants were asked to complete an anonymous questionnaire that consisted of (1) participant demographics, (2) sport specialization status, (3) monthly and weekly sport volume, and (4) sport-related injury history in the previous year.ResultsA total of 716 youth athletes completed the questionnaire (70.8% female; mean age, 14.21 ± 1.50 years; 43.2% basketball, 19.4% soccer, 37.4% volleyball; 41.8% highly specialized; 32.3% reported overuse injury in the previous year). Sex was associated with overuse injury among basketball athletes, with female basketball athletes nearly 4 times more likely to report an overuse injury compared with male basketball athletes (odds ratio, [OR], 3.7; 95% CI, 2.1-6.6; P < 0.001). High specialization (OR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.1-4.9; P = 0.02) and participating in a single sport for more than 8 months per year (OR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.1-3.5; P < 0.05) were associated with overuse injury only among volleyball athletes.ConclusionSpecialization and exceeding 8 months per year in a single sport was associated with overuse injury in volleyball, which is one of the most popular youth sports for female athletes. Specialization was not associated with overuse injury in basketball or soccer athletes. Female basketball athletes were nearly 4 times more likely to report a history of overuse injury compared with male basketball athletes. The sex of a youth athlete and the sport that he or she plays may influence the risk of overuse injury associated with sport specialization.Clinical relevanceYouth athletes, parents, and clinicians should be aware that the potential risks of specialization might vary based on the athlete's sport and sex.

Dataset Information

Factors That Drive Youth Specialization.

Publications

Factors That Drive Youth Specialization.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets