Relationships Between Youth Sports Participation and Mental Health in Young Adulthood Among Finnish Males

Purpose: To examine whether retrospectively assessed sports participation (SP) and competitive sports (CS) at the age of 12 years is associated with mental health and health behavior in young adulthood among males. Design: A cross-sectional study using self-administered questionnaires. Setting: Conducted prior to compulsory military refresher training course in Finland allowing geographically representative sample of Finnish young men. Participants: Six hundred eighty males aged between 20 and 35 years. Measures: Mental well-being was measured with the short version of Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale and mental distress with 5 items of The Short Form Helalth Survey (SF-36) scale. …