High School Soccer and Risk for Depression and Suicidality in Adulthood: Findings From a National Longitudinal Study

Objectives: This study examined whether playing soccer in high school was associated with higher rates of mental health problems in early to middle adulthood. Design: Longitudinal cohort study. Setting: The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (“Add Health”) databases were analyzed. Participants: There were 221 individuals (53.8% women) who participated in high school soccer (without participating in football) and 2388 (67.2% women) who denied participating in soccer or any contact sports during high school. Interventions: N/A. Main Outcome Measures: This study includes longitudinal data from individuals assessed at Wave I (n = 6503; median age = 15), Wave III (median age = 22), Wave IV (median age = 29), and Wave V (n = 4196; median age = 38). We compared those who played soccer with those who did not engage in contact sports on several mental health outcomes. Results: When comparing those who played high school soccer with those who did not play contact sports, there were no differences in the proportion who had a lifetime diagnosis of depression, lifetime diagnosis of anxiety or panic disorders, suicidal ideation in the past year, psychological counseling in the past year, or current depressed mood at Waves III, IV, or V (all P -values > 0.05). In addition, we matched soccer players to control participants on biologic sex, race, and educational attainment to control for potential confounds; the results were similar and nonsignificant. Conclusions: Individuals who played soccer in high school did not have an increased rate of mental health difficulties at multiple follow-up time points during early to mid-adulthood.