all 5 comments

[–]jet199 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

I'd be interested to see the difference by sex.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Think the lesbians on the softball team aren't as well adjusted?

[–]soundsituation 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

However, to our surprise, youth who participated in only individual sports, such as gymnastics or tennis, had more mental health difficulties compared to those who did not participate in organized sports," the study said.

I wonder why that is, especially since, at the school level anyway, individual sports are organized within a team framework. My guess is that it’s because individual performances are much more high-pressure and anxiety producing. Take away the competitive element from individual sports and you basically just have exercise, which ofc benefits mental health. There might also be an insane parent factor at play; sports like gymnastics and figure skating get a lot of those.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I think its more than just this. Humans have a psychological need to belong to small groups working toward common goals, which is an artifact of living in small cooperative and mutually dependent bands for the vast majority of human history. Team sports fulfill this need more effectively than individual sports.

[–]soundsituation 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Maybe, but I was also trying to address the finding that I quoted in my response, that individual sport athletes fare worse in mental health than students who don't do any sports at all. There must be a reason that individual exercise supports mental health but individual sports evidently do not, which is why I think competition/pressure must be a factor. And again, in American schools individual sports are done with teams. I agree that they're less mutually dependent than team sports, but they still foster team bonding, mutual accountability and working towards shared goals. But yeah I'm not especially surprised that team > individual, more that no sports > individual.