Browsing by Author "Parvio, Minna"

Objectives. Children and youth gain many positive physical, individual and social skills by participating in organized sport activities. According to previous research, children’s sport participation, especially team sports, protects them against psychiatric problems, but the findings of studies comparing team and invidual sports are not consistent. Evidence is also inconsistent in regards whether the effects are similar for boys and girls. Little is known about the effect of child’s psychiatric history to the association of sport participation and current symptoms. The objective of this study was to investigate the associations of sport participation and sport relatedness on team/individual continuum with psychiatric symptoms in 7–11-year-old children, taking into account child’s sex and history of borderline level psychiatric problems. Methods. The data in this study was a sample (N=1267) of PREDO follow-up study (The Prediction and Prevention of Preeclampsia and Intrauterine Growth Restriction, concerning 7–11-year-old children. Information about sport participation was reported by mothers, answering open questions about their child’s sport participation in the social competence section of CBCL/6–11 questionnaire (Child Behaviour Checklist). Sport participation was categorized dichotomously (yes/no) and 4-point scale was used to categorize sport relatedness. Information about children’s internalizing, externalizing and total problems was reported by mothers, answering the psychiatric problems section of CBCL/6–11 questionnaire. The associations between sport participation, sport relatedness and psychiatric problems were examined with linear regression models. Results and conclusions. Child’s participation in organized sports was associated with fewer internalizing, externalizing and total problems compared to no sports, and team sports requiring continuous team work was associated with fewest internalizing problems. These findings are consistent with previous research. The favorable effects of sport participation were more common for boys. Children with a history of borderline level externalizing problems didn’t obtain the protective effects of team sports requiring continuos team work, compared to independent physical exercise or individual sports. The results indicate that the protective effects of sport participation and team sports differ according to child’s sex and history of psychiatric problems.