Participation In High School Athletics Research Articles

Do high school sports build or reveal character? Bounding causal estimates of sports participation

We examine the extent to which participation in high school athletics in the United States has beneficial effects on future education, labor market, and health outcomes. Due to the absence of plausible instruments in observational data, we use recently developed methods that relate selection on observables with selection on unobservables to estimate bounds on the causal effect of athletics participation. We do not find consistent evidence of individual education or labor market benefits. However, we do find that male (but not female) athletes are more likely to exercise regularly as adults, but are no less likely to be obese.

Injury Recurrence Among High School Athletes in the United States: A Decade of Patterns and Trends, 2005-2006 Through 2015-2016.

Background:As participation in high school athletics increases, so does the number of adolescents experiencing sports-related injury. Understanding injury patterns is an important component to developing and evaluating prevention and rehabilitation programs.Purpose:To analyze recurrent injury rates and patterns among high school athletes, to compare recurrent injuries with new injuries, and to evaluate injury trends over time.Study Design:Descriptive epidemiology study.Methods:High school sports injury data on 24 sports were collected from 2005-2006 through 2015-2016 via the High School RIO (Reporting Information Online) surveillance system. Injury rates were calculated as number of injuries per 10,000 athletic exposures (AEs). Injury rate ratios and injury proportion ratios (IPRs) were calculated to compare differences among subgroups.Results:Overall, 78,005 injuries were sustained during 40,195,806 AEs, for an injury rate of 19.41 per 10,000 AEs. Of these, 69,821 (89.5%) were new injuries, and 8184 (10.5%) were recurrent. The ankle was the most commonly injured body part among recurrent injuries, while the head/face was the most common body part that sustained new injuries. Ligament sprains were more often recurrent, while concussions were more commonly diagnosed as new, although concussions represented 16.7% of recurrent injuries. Trends for recurrent injuries over time were relatively stable. The proportion of athletes who had >3 weeks of time loss or medical disqualification (15.8% vs 13.3%; IPR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.13-1.26) or who voluntarily withdrew from sport (2.5% vs 1.1%; IPR, 2.33; 95% CI, 2.00-2.73) was significantly greater for recurrent injuries than new injuries. Furthermore, a greater proportion of recurrent injuries resulted in surgery (8.1% vs 6.0%; IPR, 1.34; 95% CI, 1.24-1.46).Conclusion:Although only 10.5% of all injuries were recurrent, they more frequently resulted in missing >3 weeks of playing time and were more often managed surgically when compared with new injuries. The rate of recurrent injuries has not increased over the past decade.

Do High School Sports Build or Reveal Character?

We examine the extent to which participation in high school athletics has beneficial effects on future education, labor market, and health outcomes. Due to the absence of plausible instruments in observational data, we use recently developed methods that relate selection on observables with selection on unobservables to estimate bounds on the causal effect of athletics participation. We analyze these effects in the US separately for men and women using three different nationally representative longitudinal data sets that each link high school athletics participation with later-life outcomes. We do not find consistent evidence of individual benefits reported in many previous studies – once we have accounted for selection, high school athletes are no more likely to attend college, earn higher wages, or participate in the labor force. However, we do find that men (but not women) who participated in high school athletics are more likely to exercise regularly as adults. Nevertheless, athletes are no less likely to be obese.

Relationship between High School Athletic Participation and Adult Fitness and Metabolic Health

Background: Studies have shown that regular exercise reduces both the burden of diabetes and the risk of death from cardiovascular disease. The determinants of an active lifestyle are not fully understood. Objective: The hypothesis of the current study is that athletic participation in high school (HS) would confer health benefits in adulthood in the form of greater fitness and less metabolic risk. Methods: 372 consecutive outpatients referred for exercise testing were asked to complete a questionnaire that included number of years of HS interscholastic sports participation, smoking status, presence of diabetes, total number of medications taken per day, level of education, amount of exercise they engaged in per week and attendance at a US or foreign HS. Waist circumference, blood pressure, (BP) and body mass index, (BMI) were measured. The Standard Bruce Protocol was utilized to obtain total exercise time and METs. Results: We found a positive correlation between athletic participation in HS and total exercise time, (454 ± 120 sec. [no sports] vs. 526 ± 122 sec. [4 years of HS sports] p<0.001) and METs (9.9 ± 2.37 vs. 11.11 ± 2.36 p<0.001). Participation in HS sports was also associated with higher reported weekly exercise time, (1.99 hrs ± 2.93 vs. 3.56 ± 3.97 p<0.001). Women were significantly less likely to have participated in HS sports, (among those reporting no HS sports participation, 64 % were women). When using multivariate regressions to control for gender, HS athletic participation still had a statistically significant effect on exercise time, (women: 437sec ± 114 vs. men: 519 ± 127 p ≤ 0.001), METS (9.67 ± 2.34 vs. 11.0 ± 2.31 p ≤ 0.001), and hours of weekly exercise, (2.02 hrs. ± 3.03 vs. 3.00 ± 3.65 p=0.0053). We could not find any association among HS sports and diabetes, smoking, waist circumference, total medications taken, domestic or foreign HS, BMI or BP. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that participation in HS athletics is associated with improved adult lifestyle habits and cardiovascular fitness. Further study is needed to confirm the findings.

Assessing medical care availability for student athletes of a large urban high school district

BackgroundThe need for medical care for student athletes is mounting, as participation in high school athletics is continuing to rise. This study assessed medical care available to high school student athletes in a large, urban school district in California that has not been studied since 2002. By surveying athletic directors and coaches, we expected to find inadequate availability of medical care in the studied district and predicted that care would be more widely available for student athletes at larger high schools. MethodsWe developed and validated a questionnaire assessing practice and game coverage, emergency preparedness, treatment, and injury prevention measures. The survey was administered to athletic directors and coaches at a school district athletic directors’ meeting. ResultsForty‐three (57%) of 75 distributed surveys were completed. We found that 70% of schools did not staff a healthcare provider for practices, 28% did not staff home games, and 30% did not staff away games, for any sports. We found no significant differences between school sizes with respect to physician referrals after a student was injured, provision of health education, or implementation of emergency action plans. ConclusionsAlthough these data do not support our hypothesis of larger schools providing better medical care, it suggests that there are multiple areas of inadequate healthcare regardless of school size. We identified numerous gaps; thus, future work will examine the impact of these gaps.

Concussions From 9 Youth Organized Sports: Results From NEISS Hospitals Over an 11-Year Time Frame, 2002-2012.

Background:Youth sports programs are extremely popular throughout the United States, with children starting formal sports participation as young as 4 years. This places children at greater risk for concussions and other trauma.Purpose:To describe the epidemiology of concussions sustained during participation in 9 organized sports prior to participation in high school athletics.Methods:Over an 11-year span from January 2002 to December 2012, the authors reviewed the concussions sustained by athletes aged 4 to 13 years while playing basketball, baseball, football, gymnastics, hockey, lacrosse, soccer, softball, and wrestling, as evaluated in emergency departments (EDs) in the United States and captured by the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) database of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.Study Design:Descriptive epidemiology study.Results:There were 4864 (national estimate [NE] = 117,845) youth athletes evaluated in NEISS EDs as sustaining concussions from 2002 to 2012. Except for the year 2007, concussion frequencies trended upward throughout the 11-year time frame as well as with increasing age. Loss of consciousness (LOC) occurred in 499 cases (NE, 12,129; 10%). Football had the highest frequency of concussions, with 2013 (NE, 51,220; 41%), followed by basketball, with 977 (NE, 22,099; 20%), and soccer, with 801 (NE, 18,916; 17%). The majority of concussions were treated in the outpatient setting, with 4444 (91.4%) patients being treated and released; 412 (9%) patients required admission and were found to have increased frequencies of LOC (n = 17; 18.0%) compared with LOC in the total group (n = 499, 10%). The total number of player-to-player injury mechanisms mirrored the total number of concussions by year, which increased throughout the 11-year span, except for the year 2007. Subgroup analysis of athletes aged 4 to 7 years demonstrated a difference in the mechanism of injury distribution, with a ball-to-head mechanism increase of 5% from 15% to 20% and a player-to–other object mechanism of injury increase by more than double to 13% compared with the entire cohort over the 11-year time frame.Conclusion:Within the 4- to 13-year age range, there were a significant number of young athletes who presented to EDs with concussion as a result of playing organized sports. The 4- to 7-year age group had a disproportionately higher player-to–other object mechanism of injury.Clinical Relevance:Younger children are more susceptible to long-term sequelae from head injuries, and therefore, improved systems of monitoring for these athletes are required to monitor the patterns of injury, identify risk factors, and develop evidence-based prevention programs.

Too Busy for School? The Effect of Athletic Participation on Absenteeism

While existing research supports that participation in high-school athletics is associated with better education and labour-market outcomes, the mechanisms through which these benefits accrue are not well established. We use data from a large public-school district to retrieve an estimate of the causal effect of high-school athletic participation on absenteeism. We show that active competition decreases absences, with most of the effect driven by reductions in unexcused absences – truancy among active male athletes declines significantly, with the effects larger in earlier grades and for black and Hispanic boys. Strong game-day effects are also evident, in both boys and girls, as truancy declines on game days are offset with higher rates of absenteeism the following day. Addressing the effects on academic performance, we find significant heterogeneity in the response to active athletic participation by race, gender and family structure, with boys not in dual-parent households exhibiting small academic improvements in semesters in which they experienced greater athletic participation.

Title IX Enforcement Continues the Cultural Revolution

Title IX Enforcement Continues the Cultural Revolution

Exercise‐Induced Amenorrhea and Bone Health in the Adolescent Athlete

Female participation in high school athletics has increased 800% in the last 30 years. The problem of exercise-induced amenorrhea was initially thought to be analogous to hypoestrogenism, but recent studies suggest that nutritional issues underlie most of the pathophysiology and that the mechanism is different from that seen in the primary hypogonadal state. Exercise-induced amenorrhea can be an indicator of an energy drain, and the presence of the other components of the female athlete triad-bone density loss and eating disorders-must be determined as well. Addressing skeletal problems related to nutritional and hormonal deficiencies in this population is of very high priority.

Female high-school varsity athletics: An opportunity to improve bone mineral density

The present study investigated whether moderate, organized physical activity during high school has a positive residual effect on bone mineral density (BMD) in 30–35-year-old females. Seventy-three female former high-school varsity athletes and 67 self-reported low-activity age-matched controls completed a collegiate women's health survey and participated in a one-time clinical visit with bone scan. Lumbar (L1–L4) spine BMD, total hip BMD, percentage body fat, age at menarche, history of amenorrhea, family history of osteoporosis, college alcohol consumption, number of high school varsity seasons, as well as current nutritional intake (including calcium), number of weekly weight training sessions, and caloric expenditure were assessed. Using a saturated linear regression model, current percentage body fat and number of high school seasons predicted 22% of the observed variation in total hip BMD and 25% of the observed variation of lumbar (L1–L4) spine BMD (P<0.001). High school athletes were more likely to be frequent adult exercisers (P<0.001). Athletic participants were more likely to have denser hip and spine bones than low-activity controls. Results suggest that participation in high school athletics is associated with greater BMD. Additionally, the varsity athletes continued to exercise frequently in their early 30s.

Dietary restraint and low bone mass in female adolescent endurance runners

BackgroundBecause disordered eating (DE) has been related to menstrual irregularity (MI) and low bone mineral density (BMD) in some studies of female athletes but not in others, it seems beneficial to assess the DE attitudes and behaviors most associated with these conditions. ObjectiveWe aimed to determine the relation between Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) subscale scores, pathologic behaviors, MI, and low BMD in adolescent female runners. DesignParticipants were 93 female competitive cross-country runners 13–18 y old. The EDE-Q, composed of subscales for weight concern, shape concern, eating concern, and dietary restraint, was used to assess DE. Menstrual history was determined by using a questionnaire derived from a medical history form administered before participation in high school athletics. The International Society for Clinical Densitometry and the World Health Organization criterion of ≤ −2 or ≤ −1 SD, respectively, was used to categorize runners as having low BMD. ResultsRunners with elevated restraint had a significantly (P < 0.001) greater incidence of low BMD than did runners with elevated weight and shape concern. After adjustment for possible confounding variables (including menstrual history), lumbar spine BMD, bone mineral content, and BMD z score values were lowest in runners with elevated restraint. In addition, total-body BMD and total-body BMD z scores were significantly (P < 0.05) lower in runners with elevated restraint than in those with elevated weight or shape concern. Elevated EDE-Q scores for weight or shape concern, pathologic behaviors, or any combination of the 3 without concurrent dietary restraint were not significantly associated with low bone mass. ConclusionThese findings suggest that, in adolescent female runners, dietary restraint may be the DE behavior most associated with negative bone health effects.

Modeling and calculating the effect of treatment at baseline from panel outcomes

We propose and examine a panel data model for isolating the effect of a treatment, taken once at baseline, from outcomes observed over subsequent time periods. In the model, the treatment intake and outcomes are assumed to be correlated, due to unobserved or unmeasured confounders. Intake is partly determined by a set of instrumental variables and the confounding on unobservables is modeled in a flexible way, varying both by time and treatment state. Covariate effects are assumed to be subject-specific and potentially correlated with other covariates. Estimation and inference is by Bayesian methods that are implemented by tuned Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. Because our analysis is based on the framework developed by Chib [2004. Analysis of treatment response data without the joint distribution of counterfactuals. Journal of Econometrics, in press], the modeling and estimation does not involve either the unknowable joint distribution of the potential outcomes or the missing counterfactuals. The problem of model choice through marginal likelihoods and Bayes factors is also considered. The methods are illustrated in simulation experiments and in an application dealing with the effect of participation in high school athletics on future labor market earnings.

Relationship between radiographic abnormalities of lumbar spine and incidence of low back pain in high school rugby players: a prospective study

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between prevalent radiographic abnormalities of the lumbar spine and the incidence of low back pain in high school rugby players. Three hundred and twenty-seven incoming high school rugby players (15-16 years of age) were recruited between 1986 and 1994. All of them underwent athletic physical examination before participation in high school athletics. The relationship between prevalent radiographic abnormalities of the lumbar spine in the pre-participation athletic physical examination and the incidence of low back pain during a 1-year period after the start of participation in athletics was analyzed. Radiographic abnormalities assessed were spondylolysis, disc space narrowing, spinal instability, Schmorl's node, balloon disc, and spina bifida occulta. The frequency of respective radiographic abnormalities was 15.6%, 13.1%, 32.7%, 14.1%, 11.6%, and 30.6%. Two hundred and forty-three players (74.3%) had at least one of these radiographic abnormalities. The incidence of low back pain was 44.0% in players with no such radiographic abnormalities and 41.2% in those with at least one radiographic abnormality. The incidence of low back pain in players with the respective radiographic abnormalities was 72.5%, 46.5%, 46.7%, 39.1%, 34.2%, and 41.0%, and only players with spondylolysis had a significantly higher incidence of low back pain than those with no radiographic abnormalities. This study shows that a radiographic abnormality, specifically spondylolysis, is a significant radiological risk factor for low back pain in high school rugby players.

Assessment Of First Aid Knowledge Of High School Basketball Coaches

Participation in high school athletics includes an inherent injury risk. Often, high school coaches serve as the primary on-site health care provider although a majority of coaches may not be qualified to manage athletic injuries. PURPOSE The purpose of this investigation was to assess the first aid knowledge of high school basketball coaches in Kentucky and Tennessee. METHODS Participant characteristics and a modified American Red Cross first aid assessment were collected (N=115) via mail and electronic submissions. RESULTS Only 31% of the basketball coaches passed the first aid assessment and 62% did not possess current first aid certification. There was a relationship between possessing first aid certification and passing the first aid assessment (χ2 =16.08, p<.05). CONCLUSION High school basketball coaches in Kentucky and Tennessee do not possess adequate first aid knowledge, validating the need for certified athletics trainers at high schools to provide skilled medical care.

Assessment Of First Aid Knowledge Of High School Basketball Coaches

Participation in high school athletics includes an inherent injury risk. Often, high school coaches serve as the primary on-site health care provider although a majority of coaches may not be qualified to manage athletic injuries. PURPOSE The purpose of this investigation was to assess the first aid knowledge of high school basketball coaches in Kentucky and Tennessee. METHODS Participant characteristics and a modified American Red Cross first aid assessment were collected (N=115) via mail and electronic submissions. RESULTS Only 31% of the basketball coaches passed the first aid assessment and 62% did not possess current first aid certification. There was a relationship between possessing first aid certification and passing the first aid assessment (χ2 =16.08, p<.05). CONCLUSION High school basketball coaches in Kentucky and Tennessee do not possess adequate first aid knowledge, validating the need for certified athletics trainers at high schools to provide skilled medical care.

Is participation in high school athletics an investment or a consumption good?: Evidence from high school and beyond

Most high school students participate in at least one school-sponsored extracurricular activity, with varsity sports being the most popular. Conventional wisdom suggests that varsity sports participation provides participants with valuable skills. We use an instrumental variable approach to estimate whether the conventional wisdom is accurate. Using height as an instrument for participation, we find evidence that sports participation has a negative effect on the educational attainment of white male student athletes, a positive effect on the educational attainment and earnings of black male student athletes, and a positive effect on the educational attainment of white female student athletes. We find no effect of participation on the educational attainment or earnings of Hispanic males or black and Hispanic females.

'If You Let Me Play': The Effects of Participation in High School Athletics on Students' Educational and Labor Market Success

The recent NIKE advertisement titled If You Let Me Play, claims many benefits for girls who play sports. In contrast, there exists a hypothesis that today's society overemphasizes the role of sports to the detriment of some students, in particular inner-city minority males. This paper examines the effects of participating in high school athletics on students' educational and labor market success in order to test these two theories. I make three contributions to the literature. First, I allow the athletics effect to vary across specific team and individual sports. Second, I use instrumental variables estimation to control for self-selection into sports. Finally, I use measures of peer involvement in sports, similar to other work on neighborhood effects, to instrument each individual student's athlete status. Using nationally representative samples from High School and Beyond and the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, OLS results show that athletics contributes positively to educational and labor market success for all students except minority females. Controlling for the endogeneity of athletic participation, however, I find significant positive effects only for white students with respect to educational outcomes. This suggests that some of the seemingly beneficial effect of sports reflects underlying differences between athletes and non-athletes.

Black High School Students' Participation in School-Sponsored Sports Activities: Effects on School Engagement and Achievement

Myths abound about the role of sports in schooling, particularly for Black student athletes. The literature affords little guidance on the specific relationship between participation in schoolsponsored sports and various outcomes for Black adolescents. Using a nationally representative sample, this study examines: (a) the effects of sports participation on various school engagement and student self evaluative variables, controlling for important background characteristics such as SES and gender; (b) the potential differential effects of sports participation for Black students; and (c) the degree to which sports participation affects Black students' academic achievement. Sports participation was found to improve the school engagement and academic self confidence of alI student athletes. Moreover, a positive intervening relationship was found between sports participation and academic achievement. INTRODUCTION As a key part of the social and cultural fabric of human life, sports permeate social realities at many levels, both globally and individually (Snyder & Spreitzer,1989). Few institutions in U.S. society are unaffected by sports (Edwards, 1973). Values reflected in athletic competition-striving for excellence, fair play, sportsmanship, hard work, and commitment to a goal-are inextricably linked to our nation's mainstream cultural values. Although much has been writter_ about the role of sports in society in a broad sense (Blanchard,1995; Lapchick,1986; Rees & Miracle,1986), the social function of professional and collegiate sports has often been the primary focus of this inquiry. The research literature affords little guidance on the specific relationship between participation in high school athletics and school-related outcomes for adolescents. Even less is known about specific benefits for African American students. To complicate matters, it is not uncommon for research on high school athletics to be combined with examination of other extracurricular activities in attempts to investigate their effects upon schooling (Crain,1981; Holland & Andre,1987; Otto,1982). The assumption that most extracurricular activities affect students similarly lacks empirical evidence. Although past research on sports and schooling has found small, positive effects for participation in athletics on various student outcome measures such as grade point averages, methodological problems have marred the results of many of these studies (Trent & Braddock, 1992). Much of the recent scholarly attention paid to the topic of sports and schooling has been theoretical and philosophical in its focus (Arnold,1997; Sadovskii & Sadovskii,1993). These studies have attempted to portray sports as valued human practices that have many analogues in other areas of social life. Further, they often examine the heuristic and moral qualities of sport, and focus on the degree to which sports reaffirm and break down social norms. Arnold contends, for example, that, like most social conventions, sport is valueneutral-that is, it can be viewed as either good or bad. On the one hand, sports teach perseverance and encourage respect for rules, fair play and teamwork. Indeed, Sadovskii and Sadovskii, in their study of the connections between sports and mathematics, assert that athletics can have a beneficial effect on students' intellectual growth, states of mind, and will power. However, these authors contend that sports can also breed rugged individualism, vanity, intense rivalries, intolerance, and a win-at-all-costs attitude. Purpose of the Study In light of the dearth of empirical research exploring the effects of participation in high school sports upon educational outcome measures for adolescents, the present study sets out to address three aspects of this topic. The first stage of the analysis explores the effects of participation in high school sports on various school engagement and student self-evaluative factors while holding constant important background characteristics such as socioeconomic status (SES) and gender. …

Do High School Athletics Pay?: The Effects of Varsity Participation on Socioeconomic Attainment

It has been reported that participation in high school athletics has a positive effect on education, occupational status attainment, and earnings. (Otto and Alwin, 1977; Howell and Picou, 1983). The findings regarding the economical benefits of sport participation have emerged from two regional panel studies and need to be examined for generalizability beyond local labor markets. We test this hypothesis using the five-wave Youth in Transition panel based on a national sample of 1,628 males. The respondents were surveyed repeatedly during their high school years (1966-69). They were followed-up 1 year posthigh school (1970) and again 5 years (1974) after graduation. Our results do not support the hypothesis. However, we suggest that the lack of supportive findings may be explained by the stage in the life cycle at which the follow-up was completed. That is, any economical payoff owing to participation in high school athletics is not an immediate return but may begin to accrue 10 or more years after graduation when career lines have begun to unfold. Another possibility is that the effect of high school sports participation on earnings may only occur for those also subsequently attending college. The implications of specific explanations of sport participation outcomes for the life course interpretation are discussed.