The Impact of Sports Participation for the Marginalized during the COVID-19 Pandemic
by Kevin Biese
The COVID-19 pandemic was an unprecedented global event that required swift and extraordinary actions to protect people from this new disease. These actions impacted the everyday lived experience of people around the globe. In the United States, an emphasis was placed on reducing human contact by canceling in-person events, transitioning to online school instruction, and requiring mask wearing when social contact was necessary. Though these measures helped reduce the spread of COVID-19, they also greatly impacted the health of children across the nation in other ways. Several studies noted a reduction in physical activity as well as worse mental health during the pandemic. These areas of health are of course complex and multifaceted, but many studies before and during the pandemic have demonstrated how sport participation can positively impact physical and mental health for children. Nonetheless, it remained unclear whether sport participation had a greater impact on those from underrepresented populations such as those who identify as belonging to a racial or ethnic minority group and/or those from areas with lower socioeconomic status. Therefore, our study sought to determine how sport participation impacted youth health for different populations of adolescents.
To determine this, we surveyed 4,874 youth athletes during May 2021. In this group, 455 had not returned to while 4,419 had returned to participation in sports in the spring of 2021. The group surveyed was primarily white (80%) with 5% identifying as Black or African American, 8% identifying as Hispanic or Latino, 3% identifying as Native American or Native Alaskan, and 2% identifying as Asian. We used the students ZIP code to identify the median household income for their respective area. We then split all the individual’s household incomes into “high” and “low” based on a median split of all the areas included in the study. As a result, 50% of participants were categorized in the low socioeconomic group and 50% were categorized in the high socioeconomic group. The General Anxiety Disorder-7 Item and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 item surveys were used to measure individual anxiety and depression symptoms, respectively, in our study participants. Lastly, the Hospital for Special Surgery Pediatric Functional Activity Brief Scale was used to assess physical activity in our cohort.
Similar to prior studies, we found that, anxiety and depression levels decreased and physical activity levels increased in the group that did participate in sports compared to the group that did not participate in sports during the spring of 2021. What we also found was that this positive impact of sport on anxiety, depression, and physical activity was much greater (i.e. greater reduction in anxiety and depression and greater increases in physical activity) in underrepresented groups such as those from a racial and ethnic minority and low socioeconomic status. Another way to interpret this finding is that restriction of sport participation for youth athletes from racial and ethnic minority groups and/or areas of lower socioeconomic status may have a disproportionately negative impact on these individuals.
Our study is particularly concerning in light of recent evidence suggesting that those from underrepresented groups are finding it more challenging to return their children back to sports after the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the Aspen Institute’s 2023 Project Play report still recognizes the significant gap in youth sport participation levels between those from low socioeconomic status (26%) compared to those from high socioeconomic status (43%). These findings should serve as a call to action among stakeholders across the country to help improve access to youth sports, particularly among children from racial or ethnic minority groups and areas of lower household income. Not only can access to sports have profound physical and mental health benefits, but our results suggest that sport participation can have an even greater impact among traditionally underrepresented populations of kids.
References
Fleming DJ, Dorsch TE, Serang S, Hardiman AL, et al. The association of families’ socioeconomic and demographic characteristics with parents’ perceived barriers to returning to youth sport following the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychology of Sport and Exercise. 2023;65(102348.
Youth Sports Facts: Participation Rates. 2023 3/22/2023]; Available from: https://www.aspenprojectplay.org/youth-sports/facts/participation-rates.
Article Details
The Influence of Race, Socioeconomic Status, and Physical Activity on the Mental Health Benefits of Sport Participation During COVID-19
Kevin M. Biese, Timothy A. McGuine, Kristin Haraldsdottir, Claudia Reardon, Andrew M. Watson
First Published January 21, 2024 Research article
DOI: 10.1177/19417381231223494
Sports Health: A Multidisciplinary Approach
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