Good Practices
Sports And Drug Abuse
UNDCP has given quite a bit of attention to sport and drug abuse prevention and sponsored a workshop on the subject last fall with a report to be published soon. We learned in our investigation that sport has the potential to be preventative but can work the other way, as well. A recent large survey from the US shows that those who play certain team sports tend to use substances less. This is an example of a correlational survey that shows connections but not causes, so it cannot say that playing sports actually causes young people to use substances less.
The 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA) asked youths aged 12-17 whether they participated during the previous 12 months in team sports, such as football, basketball, swimming or gymnastics. Respondents were also questioned about the use of tobacco, alcohol or any illicit drug during the past month. Youths were also asked to report how they felt about someone their own age smoking one or more packs of cigarettes per day, having one or two drinks of an alcoholic beverage nearly every day or trying marijuana/hashish once or twice. The survey estimated that 56 per cent of youth aged 12-17 participated in team sports during the past year. This percentage decreased with age, so that 67 per cent of youths aged 12 or 13 were involved with sport, while only 54 per cent of youths aged 16 or 17 were involved.
Males (67 per cent) were more likely to participate than females (56 per cent), and Native Americans/Alaska Natives (69 per cent) and whites (63 per cent) were more likely to participate than African Americans (61 per cent), Hispanics (56 per cent) and Asians (54 per cent). In terms of the link between sports and drugs, six per cent of youths who participated in team sports during the past year reported marijuana use within the past month compared with 10 per cent of youths who did not participate. The rate of alcohol use in the past month was also lower among youths who participated in team sports during the past year (16 per cent) than among youths who did not (18 per cent), as were rates of binge alcohol use (10 vs. 12 per cent) and heavy alcohol use (2 vs. 3 per cent). Similarly, rates of past month cigarette or cigar use were lower among youths who participated in team sports during the past year than among youths who did not. However, the rate of past month smokeless tobacco use was higher among youths who participated in team sports than it was among youths who did not.
Youths who participated in teams sports during the past year were more likely than youths who did not participate to disapprove of someone their own age smoking one or more packs of cigarettes per day, having one or two drinks of an alcoholic beverage nearly every day or trying marijuana/hashish once or twice. Research suggests that unfavorable attitudes about substance use are linked with lower rates of use among youths.
From the US National Household Survey on Drug Abuse news release, "Team Sports Participation and Substance Use Among Youths", February 8, 2002.
http://www.samhsa.gov/oas/2k2/athletes/athletes_DrugUse.htm