Mental Health, Physical Activity, and Quality of Life of US Adolescent Athletes During COVID-19-Related School Closures and Sport Cancellations: A Study of 13 000 Athletes.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Context
In the spring of 2020, US schools closed to in-person teaching and sports were cancelled to control the transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). It is critical to understand the mental and physical health of adolescent athletes during this time.Objective
To describe the health of athletes during COVID-19-related school closures and sport cancellations.Design
Cross-sectional study.Setting
A national sample recruited via social media.Patients or other participants
A total of 13 002 US adolescent athletes (age = 16.3 ± 1.2 years, females = 52.9%, males = 47.0%) completed an anonymous online survey.Main outcome measure(s)
Demographic information collected was sex, grade, sport(s) played, and zip code. Assessments used were the General Anxiety Disorder 7-Item for anxiety, Patient Health Questionnaire 9-Item for depression, the Pediatric Functional Activity Brief Scale for physical activity, and the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 for quality of life. Mental health, physical activity, and health-related quality-of-life variables were compared among sex, grade, sport(s) played, and poverty level using means and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) from the survey-weighted analysis of variance.Results
Females reported a higher prevalence of moderate to severe anxiety symptoms (females = 43.7% versus males = 28.2%). The Pediatric Functional Activity Brief Scale score was highest (best) for grade 9 (mean = 14.5, 95% CI = 14.0, 15.0) and lowest for grade 11 (mean = 10.9, 95% CI = 10.5, 11.3). The prevalence of depression symptoms was highest in team sport (74.1%) and lowest in individual sport (64.9%) participants. The total Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory score was lowest (worst) for athletes from counties with the highest poverty levels (high: mean = 74.5, 95% CI = 73.7, 75.3; middle: mean = 78.9, 95% CI = 78.0, 79.8; and low: mean = 78.3, 95% CI = 77.4, 79.1).Conclusions
The health of US adolescents during the COVID-19-related school closures and sport cancellations varied to differing degrees depending on sex, grade level, type of sport participation, and level of poverty. Health policy experts should consider these findings in the future when creating and implementing policies to improve the health of adolescents in the United States.
SUBMITTER: McGuine TA
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7863599 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:BackgroundAlthough performance-enhancing drugs appear to be prevalent in adolescent sports, relatively little attention has been paid to why adolescent athletes decide to use these drugs. In this study, we examine doping among adolescents from a motivational perspective and explore how motivational variables, such as achievement goal orientations and the perceived self-determination of sports activities, may be related to moral attitudes, doping intentions and doping behavior in adolescents who participate in competitive sports.MethodologyThe study included 1035 adolescents participating in competitive sports from all regions of the Czech Republic (mean age = 16.3 years). The respondents completed a battery of questionnaires assessing their achievement goal orientations (task, ego), sports motivation at various levels of self-determination (intrinsic motivation, external regulation, amotivation), moral attitudes toward sport competition (acceptance of cheating, keeping winning in proportion, attitudes toward doping), doping intentions and doping behavior. A structural equation model was used to test the relations among motivational variables, attitudes, intentions and doping behavior.Principal resultsOur analyses indicated a good fit with the proposed model, which explained 59% of the variance in doping intentions and 17.6% of the variance in doping behavior. Within the model, task orientation was positively associated with intrinsic motivation and lower amotivation, whereas ego orientation was positively associated with extrinsic regulation and amotivation. Furthermore, intrinsic motivation was positively associated with keeping winning in proportion and negatively associated with acceptance of cheating and attitudes toward doping; the less self-determined forms of motivation showed opposite relationships. However, only the acceptance of cheating and attitudes toward doping were related to doping intention, which subsequently predicted doping behavior.Conclusions/significanceThe results provide further evidence that sports motivation represents a psychological variable that should be considered in anti-doping policies, programs, and interventions aimed at the adolescent population because motivation was linked to the doping-related attitudinal variables and also partially mediated the effect of achievement goal orientations in this regard. On the basis of these results, we may argue that the focus on intrinsic enjoyment, self-referenced criteria of success and self-improvement may be related to more negative attitudes toward doping and cheating, lower doping intentions and less frequent doping behavior, whereas the emphasis on competition, comparison with others and external motivation appear to be related to the opposite outcomes.
| S-EPMC6171920 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Sport-related concussions in young athletes are common, generally under reported and often go unrecognized. Concussion in sport may result either from a direct impact to the head or from indirect forces transmitted to the brain from impact elsewhere on the body. Concussions may also result from sudden acceleration, deceleration or rotational forces to the brain. The key features of concussion include confusion, impaired memory and reduced speed of information processing. Recovery may occur from a few days to several weeks or months. Both physical and cognitive rests are recommended for recovery. Long-term cognitive and behavioral complications are a concern. Preventive strategies include education, modification of sport rules, use of equipment such as headgears, face masks and mouth guards, and neck muscle training. Evidence is limited to support effectiveness of these preventive measures with the exception of rule modification in some sports. Laws have been enacted that require medical evaluation and clearance prior to return to play; however, evidence thus far does not show that laws have been effective in reducing the incidence of concussions in sport. More research is needed in all areas of preventive measures. Sports participation is a complex personal decision on the part of adolescent and his or her family. They should be provided with all information on inherent risks so that they can make an informed decision.
| S-EPMC5532189 | biostudies-other
Project description:The COVID-19 pandemic does not affected only physical but also mental health and socioeconomic part. The social distancing, social quarantine, school from home, and work from becomes a new normal these days. Being adolescence, the above conditions may be challenging due to their developmental milestones. Therefore, this brief report aimed to preliminary identify proportion of adolescents' emotional and behavior problems and several factors related to it during COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. The findings might raise some understanding of youth mental well-being and programs that can be applied in schools and community in general to overcome the issues. The study was designed as cross sectional and used online survey that started on April 2020. During April 15-May 10, 2020, there were 113 adolescents participated on this survey. Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) 11-17 years old was used to assess adolescent emotional and behavior problems; and specific life experience questionnaire was designed to collect other independents variables (Cronbach's α = 0.75). All participants fulfilled the online informed consent before they started to complete the questionnaire. All data was analyzed by using SPSS version 20 for Mac. The average age of research subjects were 14.07 (2.18) years old; 98.2% was school from home. There was 14.2% of the total research subject at risk on total difficulties problems; 38.1% of adolescent was at risk on peer-relationship problems, 28.3% at risk on pro-social behavior problems, 15% at risk on conduct behavior and 10.6% at risk on emotional problems. The number of adolescent that perceived worse to significantly worse self-mental well-being prior COVID-19 increased during COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia (p < 0.05). There was significantly association between having mental health information and conduct behavior (OR = 10.34, 95%CI = 1.27-78.86); Subjective anxiety due to COVID-19 pandemic and pro-social behavior problems (OR = 2.37, 95% CI = 1.00-5.63), parental support and total difficulties (OR = 0.09, 95% CI = 0.14-0.60) and pro-social behavior problems (OR = 0.09, 95% CI = 0.01-0.82); friends support during COVID-19 pandemic and conduct behavior (OR = 0.20, 95% CI = 0.04-1.00) and pro-social behavior problems (OR = 0.14, 95% CI = 0.02-0.75). To be concluded, during phase 1 and 2 COVID-19 pandemic and school closures in Indonesia, adolescents were at risk for having emotional and behavior problems. Therefore, maintain clear mental health information, keep them on connection with school by designing an optimal tele-education, tele-consultation, and virtual activity programs to accommodate adolescents' biopsychosocial needs in the near future.
| S-EPMC7704451 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which was first identified in Wuhan, China, in late December of 2019 is rapidly spreading across the globe. The South Korean government has ordered the closure of all schools, as part of its attempts to use social distancing measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The effects of the school closures on reducing contagion are generally positive; however, the measure is controversial because of the socioeconomic ripple effect that accompanies it. The author briefly reviewed the existing literature on the mental health aspects of disasters and presents the issues related to school closures due to pandemics, from medical and socioeconomic perspectives and in terms of children's mental health. The results of this review suggest that research on children's mental health in relation to the adoption of school closures as a pandemic mitigation strategy is urgently needed.
| S-EPMC7289477 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Human brains develop across the life span and largely vary in morphology. Adolescent collision-sport athletes undergo repetitive head impacts over years of practices and competitions, and therefore may exhibit a neuroanatomical trajectory different from healthy adolescents in general. However, an unbiased brain atlas targeting these individuals does not exist. Although standardized brain atlases facilitate spatial normalization and voxel-wise analysis at the group level, when the underlying neuroanatomy does not represent the study population, greater biases and errors can be introduced during spatial normalization, confounding subsequent voxel-wise analysis and statistical findings. In this work, targeting early-to-middle adolescent (EMA, ages 13-19) collision-sport athletes, we developed population-specific brain atlases that include templates (T1-weighted and diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging) and semantic labels (cortical and white matter parcellations). Compared to standardized adult or age-appropriate templates, our templates better characterized the neuroanatomy of the EMA collision-sport athletes, reduced biases introduced during spatial normalization, and exhibited higher sensitivity in diffusion tensor imaging analysis. In summary, these results suggest the population-specific brain atlases are more appropriate towards reproducible and meaningful statistical results, which better clarify mechanisms of traumatic brain injury and monitor brain health for EMA collision-sport athletes.
| S-EPMC7979742 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Youth participation in organized sports in the United States is rising, with many athletes focusing on a single sport at an increasingly younger age.To retrospectively compare single-sport specialization in current high school (HS), collegiate, and professional athletes with regard to the rate and age of specialization, the number of months per year of single-sport training, and the athlete's perception of injury related to specialization.Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3.A survey was distributed to HS, collegiate, and professional athletes prior to their yearly preparticipation physical examination. Athletes were asked whether they had chosen to specialize in only 1 sport, and data were then collected pertaining to this decision.A total of 3090 athletes completed the survey (503 HS, 856 collegiate, and 1731 professional athletes). A significantly greater percentage of current collegiate athletes specialized to play a single sport during their childhood/adolescence (45.2% of HS athletes, 67.7% of collegiate athletes, and 46.0% of professional athletes; P < .001). The age of single-sport specialization differed between groups and occurred at a mean age of 12.7 ± 2.4 (HS), 14.8 ± 2.5 (collegiate), and 14.1 ± 2.8 years (professional) (P < .001). Current HS (39.9%) and collegiate athletes (42.1%) recalled a statistically greater incidence of sport-related injury than current professional athletes (25.4%) (P < .001). The majority (61.7%) of professional athletes indicated that they believed specialization helps the athlete play at a higher level, compared with 79.7% of HS and 80.6% of collegiate athletes (P < .001). Notably, only 22.3% of professional athletes said they would want their own child to specialize to play only 1 sport during childhood/adolescence.This study provides a foundation for understanding current trends in single-sport specialization in all athletic levels. Current HS athletes specialized, on average, 2 years earlier than current collegiate and professional athletes surveyed. These data challenge the notion that success at an elite level requires athletes to specialize in 1 sport at a very young age.
| S-EPMC5536378 | biostudies-other
Project description:BackgroundMitigation measures, including school closures, were enacted to protect the public during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the negative effects of mitigation measures are not fully known. Adolescents are uniquely vulnerable to policy changes since many depend on schools for physical, mental, and/or nutritional support. This study explores the statistical relationships between school closures and adolescent firearm injuries (AFI) during the pandemic.MethodsData were drawn from a collaborative registry of 4 trauma centers in Atlanta, GA (2 adult and 2 pediatric). Firearm injuries affecting adolescents aged 11-21 years from 1/1/2016 to 6/30/2021 were evaluated. Local economic and COVID data were obtained from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Georgia Department of Health. Linear models of AFI were created based on COVID cases, school closure, unemployment, and wage changes.ResultsThere were 1,330 AFI at Atlanta trauma centers during the study period, 1,130 of whom resided in the 10 metro counties. A significant spike in injuries was observed during Spring 2020. A season-adjusted time series of AFI was found to be non- stationary (p = 0.60). After adjustment for unemployment, seasonal variation, wage changes, county baseline injury rate, and county-level COVID incidence, each additional day of unplanned school closure in Atlanta was associated with 0.69 (95% CI 0.34- 1.04, p < 0.001) additional AFIs across the city.ConclusionAFI increased during the COVID pandemic. This rise in violence is statistically attributable in part to school closures after adjustment for COVID cases, unemployment, and seasonal variation. These findings reinforce the need to consider the direct implications on public health and adolescent safety when implementing public policy.
| S-EPMC10246889 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ImportanceIn-person schooling has been disrupted for most school-aged youth during the COVID-19 pandemic, with low-income, Black, and Hispanic populations most likely to receive fully remote instruction. Disruptions to in-person schooling may have negatively and inequitably affected children's mental health.ObjectiveTo estimate the association between school closures and child mental health outcomes and how it varies across sociodemographic factors.Design, setting, and participantsThis cross-sectional population-based survey study included a nationally representative sample of US adults aged 18 to 64 years with at least 1 child in the household. The survey was administered between December 2 and December 21, 2020, via web and telephone in English and Spanish. Participants were recruited from the NORC AmeriSpeak panel, an address-based panel with known probability sampling and coverage of 97% of US households.ExposuresSchooling modality (in person, fully remote, or hybrid), household income, age.Main outcomes and measuresChild mental health difficulties were measured with the parent-report version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, with small, medium, and large effect sizes defined as 1.3-, 3.3-, and 5.2-point differences, respectively.ResultsA total of 2324 adults completed the survey. Overall, 1671 respondents (71.9%) were women, 244 (10.5%) were Black, 372 (16.0%) were Hispanic, and 421 (18.1%) had a high school education or less. Children attending school in-person had higher household incomes (mean difference, $9719; 95% CI, $4327 to $15 111; P < .001) and were more likely to be White compared with those attending remotely (366 of 556 [65.8%] vs 597 of 1340 [44.5%]; P < .001). Older children in remote schooling had more mental health difficulties than those attending in-person schooling (standardized effect size, 0.23 [95% CI, 0.07 to 0.39] per year older; P = .006), corresponding to small effect sizes in favor of in-person schooling for older children and very small effect sizes favoring remote schooling for younger children. Children from families with higher income benefitted more from attending schools in-person compared with their peers from families with lower income (B = -0.20 [95% CI, -0.10 to -0.30] per $10 000-increase in annual income; P < .001), although this advantage was not apparent for children attending hybrid school (B = -0.05 [95% CI, -0.16 to 0.06] per $10 000-increase in annual income; P = .34), and directionally lower but not significantly different for children attending remote school (B = -0.12 [95% CI, -0.04 to -0.20] per $10 000-increase in annual income; P < .001). Learning pods fully buffered the associations of hybrid schooling (d = -0.25; 95% CI, -0.47 to -0.04) but not remote schooling (d = 0.04; 95% CI, -0.10 to 0.18) with negative mental health outcomes.Conclusions and relevanceThe findings of this study suggest that older and Black and Hispanic children as well as those from families with lower income who attend school remotely may experience greater impairment to mental health than their younger, White, and higher-income counterparts. Ensuring that all students have access to additional educational and mental health resources must be an important public health priority, met with appropriate funding and workforce augmentation, during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
| S-EPMC8417763 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This cross-sectional study compared the physical fitness and mental health status of 140 school-age children who participated in sport-specific training with 180 age-matched peers. All the participants were grouped by sport-specific training frequencies in extracurricular time into the following: (i) high sports training frequency group (HFG): training three to five times per week (n = 77, mean [SD] age: 9.60 [0.12] years); (ii) low sports training frequency group (LFG): training once per week (n = 63, mean [SD] age: 9.88 [0.14] years); and (iii) control group (CG): maintaining routine life (n = 180, mean (SD) age: 9.77(0.09) years). Physical fitness status, including body composition (body mass index), endurance (vital capacity; 50 × 8 round trip), speed and agility (50 m sprint), flexibility (sit-and-reach), coordination (1-min rope skipping), and core strength (1-min sit-ups) as well as mental health status was measured. Overall, the results showed that Grade 3 to 4 HFG students showed better total physical fitness scores than the LFG and CG students. Grade 2 and 5 participants in the three groups showed no significant difference in the total physical fitness score. Children in HFG performed better in several PF indicators (i.e., cardiopulmonary function, flexibility, core strength, and coordination) than those in LFG and CG, and children in LFG got a higher score than those in CG on a testing item of 1-min rope skipping. The mental health test results showed that HFG performed better than LFG and CG. The results indicated that participating in sport-specific training 3-5 times per week was beneficial for children's physical and mental health. Additionally, there was a weak and negative correlation between physical fitness and mental health in LFG and CG, while no correlation was found between physical fitness and mental health in HFG.
| S-EPMC7906039 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Background The psychobiological state known as mental fatigue (MF) is by engaging in mentally taxing activities for an extended period, which is typically found in team sports, of the high cognitive demand and unpredictable environment. It increases the perception of effort and influences executive functions, impairing sport-specific performance in athletes. However, the consequences of MF on sport-specific motor performance (SSMP) among athletes in team sports remain unclear. Objective This scoping review seeks to find and map research publications that investigate the effect of MF on SSMP in team sports. Methods Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed were searched as the main databases, and CENTRAL, Psychology, and Behavioral Sciences Collection, SPORTDicus obtained from EBSCOhost, as well as gray literature was searched for relevant literature and Google Scholar. Cognitive tasks before the SSMP exam are the focus of the selected literature on mental exhaustion. Only experiments testing mental and non-mental exhaustion were chosen. Results Twelve studies fulfill the requirement of selection criteria. SSMP in team sports, including soccer, basketball, cricket, and Australian football mainly is examined as physical and technical performance. More specifically, MF significantly influenced physical performance measured as intermittent endurance and total distance (P < 0.05), while data was inclusive when assess in an ecological setting (e.g., small-sided game) (P > 0.05). Technical performance was mainly measured as ball loss, errors in passing and shooting, interception, and successful tackle and showed a dramatic impairment (P < 0.05). The decline of physical activity is relevant with higher level PRE, while decreased technical performance is related to impaired attention resources shown as visual perceptual. Conclusion MF adversely influences SSMP in team sports. The most relevant theory for future study to examine the impacts of MF on team-sport athletes could be the psychological model of exercise and its potential extension on attention resources, rather than the traditional “catastrophe” theory.
| S-EPMC10128192 | biostudies-literature