Sport Participation and Physical Activity in Adolescent Females Across a Four-year Period

Purpose: To determine the odds of engaging in future moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and vigorous physical activity (VPA) in adolescent female sport participants. A secondary purpose was to compare activity levels of three groups of girls, those who played sports at three time points, those who dropped out, and those who did not participate in sports.

Methods: Data were collected at three time points, eighth, ninth, and 12th grades, in 429 adolescent girls across the state of South Carolina. Demographic, sport participation and physical activity (PA) data were collected using surveys. Odds ratios were calculated to determine the association between sport participation and future PA behavior. PA was also compared for three sport participation groups (nonparticipants, dropouts, or three-year participants) using analysis of variance.

Results: For MVPA, ninth grade participants were more likely to be active in 12th grade (OR = 1.74 [1.13, 2.67]), and eighth and ninth grade participants more likely to be active in 12th grade than nonparticipants (OR = 1.54 [confidence interval 1.01, 2.35]). For VPA, sport participants had higher odds of being active at all future time points. Three-year participants were significantly more vigorously active than nonparticipants and dropouts at all three time points (p < .01).

Conclusions: Adolescent girls who participate in sports in eighth, ninth, and 12th grades are more likely to be vigorously active in 12th grade. These findings are novel in providing evidence that sport participation contributes to overall vigorous physical activity during late adolescence, when overall physical activity is known to decline precipitously.