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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Participation in organized sports is associated with decreased likelihood of unhealthy lifestyle habits in adolescents

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Adolescence is a pivotal time for investing in both present and future health. Thus, it is important to identify arenas for promoting positive adolescent health behaviors and preventing negative ones. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between organized sports participation (OSP) and a broad range of lifestyle habits in Norwegian adolescents. A comprehensive survey was completed by 13 269 junior high and high school students in southern Norway. Multivariable binary logistic regression models, adjusted for gender, age, and parental education, were used to investigate the associations between OSP and adolescent substance use, dietary habits, physical activity level, passive vs active transportation, screen time, and sleep duration. Inverse associations were found between OSP and adolescent substance use (odds ratio 0.40 [95% confidence interval 0.30-0.52] to 0.68 [0.61-0.76]), irregular consumption of main meals (0.58 [0.53-0.63] to 0.78 [0.70-0.89]), high intake of unhealthy food and beverages (0.55 [0.47-0.65] to 0.86 [0.75-0.98]), low intake of healthy food items (0.57 [0.51-0.63] to 0.77 [0.70-0.84]), low physical activity level (0.15 [0.14-0.17]), high screen-based activity (0.61 [0.55-0.67]), passive vs active transportation (summer; 0.79 [0.72-0.86] and winter; 0.84 [0.77-0.92]), and short sleep duration, during both weekdays (0.57 [0.52-0.63]) and weekends (0.79 [0.69-0.89]). In conclusion, adolescents participating in organized sports had decreased odds for engaging in several unhealthy lifestyle habits compared with non-participants, indicating that organized sports may be a relevant setting for promoting healthy behaviors among adolescents. Future studies are, however, needed to confirm a possible causal relationship.