A large-scale study of 11,235 kids between the ages of 9 to 13 years old from California State University was published in PLOS ONE shining light on the benefit of team sports on children mental health.

For this study, parents and guardians reported on various aspect of children’s mental health via form called the Child Behavior Checklist and children’s sports habit for the researchers to analyze.

The found that children who played team sports were less likely to exhibit signs of anxiety, depression, withdrawal, social problems, and attention problems. However, they found the opposite for kids who played individual sports where they fared worse in their parental responses.

While individual sports results will require more indepth look and not necessarily be true, sports should be something that is a part of every person’s childhood and putting them on a team should be a part of a good parenting. Sports help get children out of the house, associating with others to develop social skills, and provide exercise that will all compound into bigger rewards through adolescence and adulthood.

MD Hoffman et al. Associations between organized sport participation and mental health difficulties: data from over 11,000 US children and adolescents. PLOS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0268583