Socioeconomic Factors for Sports Specialization and Injury in Youth Athletes

Jayanthi, Neeru; Holt, Daniel B.; LaBella, Cynthia R.; Dugas, Lara R.

doi:10.1177/1941738118778510

Cited by 42 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…A previous study of 1544 high school athletes from various sports reported that 49% of all athletes also participate on a club team. Previous research estimating the prevalence of specialization has reported rates between 13% and 37%, with rates depending on a variety of factors including school size, athlete sex, age, sport, parent SES, and geographical region [10,19,[28][29][30][31]. The specific sport (baseball) examined, the affluence of our sample, and the differences in geographical region from previous research (Southern California vs primarily Midwest United States) most likely contributed to the increased rates of specialization and club sport participation observed in this study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitudes and Beliefs towards Sport Specialization, College Scholarships, and Financial Investment among High School Baseball Parents

Post

Rosenthal

Rauh

2019

Sports

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Adolescent athletes are increasingly encouraged to specialize in a single sport year-round in an effort to receive a college scholarship. For collegiate baseball, only 11.7 scholarships are available for a 35-player team. The beliefs of the parents of baseball athletes towards sport specialization are unknown, along with whether they have an accurate understanding of college baseball scholarship availability. The parents of high school baseball athletes were recruited to complete an anonymous questionnaire that consisted of (1) parent and child demographics, (2) child baseball participation information, and (3) parent attitudes and beliefs regarding sport specialization and college baseball scholarships. One hundred and fifty-five parents participated in the questionnaire (female: 52.9%, age: 49.4 ± 5.5 years old). The parents spent a median of 3000 USD [Interquartile Range (IQR): 1500–6000] on their child’s baseball participation. Most parents believed that specialization increased their child’s chances of getting better at baseball (N = 121, 79.6%). The parents underestimated the number of college baseball scholarships available per team (median [IQR]: 5 [0–5]), but 55 parents (35.9%) believed it was likely that their child would receive a college baseball scholarship. Despite having a realistic understanding of the limited college scholarships available, the parents were optimistic that their child would receive a baseball scholarship.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitudes and Beliefs towards Sport Specialization, College Scholarships, and Financial Investment among High School Baseball Parents

Post

Rosenthal

Rauh

2019

Sports

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“…In the United States, individuals from low-income areas have reduced access to club sports. 45,46 The effects on mental and physical health we identified are complex and may be due to a combination of many factors that disproportionately affect individuals of low socioeconomic status. 47 It is still important to note that the cancellation of school sports may have a differential effect on the health of athletes depending on their level of poverty.…”

Section: Poverty Levelmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

McGuine

Biese

Petrovska

et al. 2020

Journal of Athletic Training

183

184

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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.

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“…Currently, the 3-question specialization survey that includes the question about quitting other sports is widely used as the method of stratifying specialization level in specialization research and literature. [2][3][4]14 Our findings suggest that researchers should consider modifying the commonly used sport-specialization survey to account for athletes who never played other sports. One possibility would be to add a fourth question, ''Have you only ever played 1 sport?''…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Evaluating a Commonly Used Tool for Measuring Sport Specialization in Young Athletes

Miller

Malekian

Burgess

et al. 2019

Journal of Athletic Training

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Context Sport specialization has been defined as year-round intensive training in a single sport to the exclusion of other sports. A commonly used survey tool created by Jayanthi et al, which classifies athletes as having a low, moderate, or high level of specialization, categorizes only athletes answering yes to “Have you quit other sports to focus on a main sport?” as highly specialized. We hypothesized that a measureable number of year-round, single-sport athletes have never played other sports and, therefore, may be inaccurately classified as moderately specialized when using this tool, even though most experts would agree they should be viewed as highly specialized. Objective To determine the proportion of athletes misclassified as moderately rather than highly specialized because they never played a previous sport. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Hospital-based pediatric outpatient sports medicine clinic. Patients or Other Participants Injured athletes aged 12 to 17 years who presented to the clinic between 2015 and 2017 and completed a sports-participation survey (n = 917). Main Outcome Measure(s) Sport-specialization level. Results Of 917 participants, 299 (32.6%) played a single sport more than 8 months per year, and 208/299 (69.6%) had previously quit other sports (highly specialized), whereas 91 (30.4%) had never played other sports (highly specialized and misclassified as moderate). Individual-sport athletes had a 2.03 times greater risk of being highly specialized and misclassified as moderate than team-sport athletes (relative risk = 2.03 [95% confidence interval = 1.37, 3.00]). Females had a 1.70 times greater risk of being misclassified as moderately specialized than males (relative risk 1.70 [95% confidence interval = 1.07, 2.70]). Of the 3 sports with the largest number of athletes, artistic gymnastics had the highest proportion (51.2%) who had never played other sports. Conclusions The commonly used specialization survey misclassified a substantial number of highly specialized athletes as moderately specialized. Researchers should consider adding a fourth survey question, “Have you only ever played 1 sport?” to identify and better study this unique subset of misclassified athletes.

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Socioeconomic Factors for Sports Specialization and Injury in Youth Athletes

Abstract: As SES increases, young athletes report higher degrees of sports specialization, greater participation in individual sports, and more serious overuse injuries.

Cited by 42 publications

References 21 publications

Attitudes and Beliefs towards Sport Specialization, College Scholarships, and Financial Investment among High School Baseball Parents

Attitudes and Beliefs towards Sport Specialization, College Scholarships, and Financial Investment among High School Baseball Parents

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

Evaluating a Commonly Used Tool for Measuring Sport Specialization in Young Athletes

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