Examination of the Impact of Team Sport Participation on Adolescent Male Mental Health: An Integrative Literature Review Proposal

Examination of the Impact of Team Sport Participation on Adolescent Male Mental Health: An Integrative Literature Review Proposal

Alicia Foster

Background: In 2018, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) found that depression impacts almost one in eight adolescents and young adults yearly. They further sited that the number of adolescents who experienced major depressive episodes increased nearly a third from 2005-2014. Also in 2018, the World Health Organization cited that suicide is the third largest cause of death in older adolescents, ages 15-19 years old.

Objectives: The purpose of this integrative literature review is to evaluate the mental health benefits of team sport participation for adolescent males. Specifically, the research utilized will explore and determine if team sport participation during adolescents correlates positively with the reduction of depressive mood and suicidal ideation reports.

Method: An integrative literature review design by Whittemore & Knafl (2005) was used to identify and organize data focused on the impact of team sport participation within the adolescent male population. Data was evaluated and analyzed following the Garrard (2016) matrix method. A total of seven research studies were analyzed and examined from the years 2008 to 2018.

Results: Landmark and two prominent themes were found surrounding the current research results of the impact on sport participation on adolescent male mental health. Landmark qualitative study evaluated basketball as an intervention for psycho-social therapy in a psychiatric hospital setting. The researchers found that programs intervention benefited the participants by learning how to cope and communicate regarding frustration, increased skills in how to work as a team, and increased self-perception of others viewing them as individuals versus their diagnosis. Major limitation of the study was the lack of trustworthiness and the subjective views of the team leaders’ perceptions. The first theme: Power of Socialization was found to be the outcome of the intervention of participation through team sports between peers. Sports promotes socialization which is an influencing contributor to positive mental health. The participants who participated at a higher frequency (HFP) had significantly lower means compared to participants who participated at a lower frequency (LFPs) on the Youth Self Report (YSR) problem sub scale which focused on Anxious/Depressed Problems. HFP mean (M=4.84, SD= 4.26) was significantly lower that the LFP mean (M=7.66, SD=6.87), t(38)=2.03, p<.05). The second theme was Preventative Nature of Team Sports. Secondary adolescent school sport program study found that later in early adulthood there was a mitigation of depressive symptom development (lower depressive symptoms (p < 0.001), , decreased perceived stress (p<0.001), and increased self-rated mental health status ( p <0 >.001). Limitations: Broad nature of sport application does not delineate the variables and structure nuances that may be unique and may benefit different populations, personalities, depression levels, and genders. This ILR only reviewed male focused studies of adolescent age group.

Conclusions: The literature provided clarity to the research question while still identifying many gaps in the available research and suggestions for future studies by the following analysis and synthesis of 2 qualitative studies in this IRL. The analysis and synthesis of these studies was completed through utilization of the Cognitive-Perceptual Factors of Pender’s Health Promotion Model. Through these studies it is illustrated that the benefits of sport on the mental health of adolescent males falls on a broad spectrum. Through the physical challenge’s adolescents learn to overcome adversity, persevere, and control their emotions and cope with feelings of frustration and defeat. At the same time, these adolescents are benefiting from the social aspects of developing self-confidence, increasing self-awareness, and learning to communicate and utilize the support systems set up around them. Future Research Recommendations: Triangulation pilot study of adolescent males to early adulthood with team sport of basketball where measurements are established for depression evaluation with protocol develop for possible interventions for untoward outcomes. Qualitative study should be conducted by nursing researchers established with experience and skills in this area of expertise. Trustworthiness not in the conducting of the qualitative study but also in the data collection and gathering should have the goal of eliminating subjective bias that had occurred in one of the ILR studies. Another area to research would be the female gender adolescent individuals.

Key Words: mental health, adolescents, sports, team sports, exercise, males, depression, suicide, intervention, and treatment.