Research shows sports has long-term health benefits for womenDo sports make a long-term difference in a womans life? A large body of research shows that sports are associated with all sorts of benefits,like lower teenage pregnancy rates,better grades and higher self-esteem. But until now,no one has determined whether those improvements are a direct result of athletic participation. It may be that the type of girl who is attracted to sports already has the social,personal and physical qualitieslike ambition,strength and supportive parentsthat will help her succeed in life. Now,separate studies from two economists offer some answers,providing the strongest evidence yet that team sports can result in lifelong improvements to educational,work and health prospects.Just six years after the enactment of a law in 1972 in the US that required schools and colleges receiving government money to provide equal opportunities for girls and boys in sports,the percentage of girls playing team sports had jumped sixfold,to 25 per cent from about four per cent. A study by Betsey Stevenson,an economist at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania States,untangles the effects of sports participation from other confounding factorsschool size,climate,social and personal differences among athletesand comes close to determining a cause and effect relationship between high school sports participation and achievement later in life.Using a complex analysis,Dr Stevenson showed that increasing girls sports participation had a direct effect on womens education and employment. She found that the changes set in motion by the law explained about 20 per cent of the increase in womens education and about 40 per cent of the rise in employment for 25-to-34-year-old women. Its not just that the people who are going to do well in life play sports,but that sports help people do better in life, she said,adding,While I only show this for girls,its reasonable to believe its true for boys as well.Team sports participation has made a difference in womens long-term health too. In a carefully conducted study,Robert Kaestner,an economics professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago,compared rates of obesity and physical activity of women who had been in high school in the 1970sthe time the law was taking effectwith similar women from earlier years. Controlling the results for other influences,like age and changing diets,Dr Kaestner found that the increase in girls athletic participation caused by the legislation was associated with a seven per cent lower risk of obesity 20 to 25 years later,when women were in their late 30s and early 40s. His article was published this month in the journal Evaluation Review.While a seven per cent decline in obesity is modest,other studies have shown that even a small drop in weight can lower risk for diabetes and other health problems.The research clearly states that when anybody,boys and girls,are physically active,they can reap developmental and health benefits. But we havent reached equality yet, said Nicole M. LaVoi,associate director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport at the University of Minnesota.NYT
