Sporty boys have fewer mental health problems

Young boys who play sport are less likely to experience mental health issues as they grow up, a study claims.

Researchers found that lads who participate in sports before they even start school are less likely to experience depressive and anxiety symptoms – or ‘emotional distress’ – between the ages of five and 12.

The findings also suggest that boys who experience less distress as they grow up are also likely to be more active in early adolescence.

However, there was no similar correlation in girls between participation in sport and mental health. Study leader Marie-Josee Harbec – who conducted the study of 690 boys and 748 girls as a doctoral student supervised by Professor Linda Pagani at the university of Montreal in Canada – said: ‘There’s widespread evidence of a crisis these days in childhood physical inactivity, and this may ultimately have implications for later mental and physical health.’

The findings were published in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioural Paediatrics.