Physical Activity, Sport Participation, and Suicidal Behavior

Nov 30, 2007Medicine and science in sports and exercise

Physical Activity, Sports, and Suicidal Behavior in U.S. High School Students

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Abstract

Frequent vigorous-intensity physical activity is associated with a 48% lower odds of suicide ideation among boys.

Boys participating in sports teams have 35% lower odds of suicide ideation compared to nonparticipants.
Frequently vigorously active boys show 56% lower odds of suicide attempts compared to inactive peers.
Sports team participation is linked to 39% lower odds of suicide attempts among boys.
Regular vigorous activity among girls is associated with 33% lower odds of suicide attempts compared to inactive girls.
Sports team participation for girls is associated with 27% lower odds of suicide attempts compared to nonparticipants.
The associations between physical activity, sports participation, and suicidal behavior differ between boys and girls.

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PURPOSE: To evaluate the associations of physical activity and sports team participation with suicidal behavior among U.S. high school students.

METHODS: Data were from the 2003 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (N = 10,530 respondents). Exposure variables included physical activity (inactive, insufficient, moderately intensive, regular vigorously intensive, and frequent vigorously intensive) and sports team participation. Outcome variables were suicide ideation (seriously considering and/or planning suicide) and suicide attempts. Hierarchical logistic regressions were run, controlling for age, race, smoking, alcohol use, drug use, geographic region, unhealthy weight-control practices, and body mass index/weight perceptions.

RESULTS: Compared with inactive students or sports team nonparticipants, the odds of suicide ideation were lower among boys reporting frequent vigorous-intensity physical activity (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 0.48; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.29, 0.79) and sports team participation, respectively (AOR = 0.65; 95% CI = 0.48, 0.86). The odds of suicide attempts were also lower among frequently vigorously active boys (AOR = 0.44; 95% CI = 0.21, 0.96) and sports team participants (AOR = 0.61; 95% CI = 0.40, 0.93). The odds of suicide attempts were lower for regular vigorously active girls compared with inactive girls (AOR = 0.67; 95% CI = 0.45, 0.99) and sports team participants compared with nonparticipants (AOR = 0.73; 95% CI = 0.57, 0.94). Associations with one exposure variable generally weakened when adjustment was made for the other exposure variable, or for feeling sad and hopeless.

CONCLUSIONS: The association of physical activity and sports team participation with suicide ideation and suicide attempts varied by sex. Further research is needed to clarify these different associations.

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