Girls and Sports - evidence is there of its benefits

While STILL awaiting the arrival of my own daughter, some interesting reading from Monday's New York Times

As Girls Become Women, Sports Pay Dividends


By TARA PARKER-POPE

Almost four decades after the federal education law called Title IX opened the door for girls to participate in high school and college athletics, a crucial question has remained unanswered: Do sports make a long-term difference in a woman’s 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 qualities — like ambition, strength and supportive parents — that 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. At a time when the first lady, Michelle Obama, has begun a nationwide campaign to improve schoolchildren’s health, the lessons from Title IX show that school-based fitness efforts can have lasting effects.

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 required schools and colleges receiving federal money to provide the same opportunities for girls as they did for boys. Relatively few students, male or female, participate in intercollegiate sports. But the effects in high school were remarkable. Just six years after the enactment of Title IX, the percentage of girls playing team sports had jumped sixfold, to 25 percent from about 4 percent.

Most research on Title IX has looked at national trends in girls’ sports. Betsey Stevenson, an economist at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, has taken it a step further, focusing on state-by-state variations.

“I looked to see what it means to add sports to girls’ lives,” she said. “How does it change things for them?”

States with large boys’ sports programs had to make bigger changes to achieve parity than states with smaller programs. Looking at the state-by-state statistics allowed Dr. Stevenson to narrow her focus, comparing differences in sports participation with differences in women’s educational and work achievement.

So her study untangles the effects of sports participation from other confounding factors — school size, climate, social and personal differences among athletes — and comes far closer 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 women’s education and employment. She found that the changes set in motion by Title IX explained about 20 percent of the increase in women’s education and about 40 percent of the rise in employment for 25-to-34-year-old women.

“It’s 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, it’s reasonable to believe it’s true for boys as well.”

Another question is whether Title IX has made a difference in women’s long-term health. 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 1970s — as Title IX was taking effect — with similar women from earlier years. Controlling the results for other influences, like age and changing diets, Dr. Kaestner was able to tease out the effects Title IX had on women’s health.

He found that the increase in girls’ athletic participation caused by Title IX was associated with a 7 percent 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.

Dr. Kaestner notes that while a 7 percent decline in obesity is modest, no other public health program can claim similar success. And other studies have shown that even a small drop in weight can lower risk for diabetes and other health problems.

There is still room for improvement. Today about 1 in 3 high school girls play sports, compared with about half of all boys. And participation varies widely by state, according to Dr. Stevenson’s research. Southern states like Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee still have big gender gaps, while Northern states like Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Vermont are closer to parity.

“While we have more girls than ever before, we still have far more boys playing sports than girls,” said Nicole M. LaVoi, associate director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport at the University of Minnesota. “The research clearly states that when anybody, boys and girls, are physically active, they can reap developmental and health benefits. But we haven’t reached equality yet.”

And the wait continues...random thoughts

That's right, still no sign of our McNugget.  If I gave you a quick quiz asking how long pregnancy lasts, I'll bet your answer would be either 9 months or 40 weeks.  That's what I always thought.  Well, as someone who is now 9-1/2months (otherwise known as 41wks) pregnant, I'm feeling a little annoyed.  Seriously, this is one of the many many things that you don't learn until after you are pregnant.  Things that, if you knew ahead of time, might make you reconsider this whole having a baby concept!

Bedrest continues, but the restrictions have been eased slightly.  I'm allowed some periods of activity as long as I return to bed to bring my blood pressure back into the so-called normal range.  Sounds great, except after surviving two blizzards in the past 8 days, our neighborhood and friendly nearby trails aren't exactly passable.  Piles of snow are literally seven feet high!  In the meantime, any and every method of labor induction is being used, including acupuncture (which can actually hurt!).

Stuart got me out of the house and we did a number of random errands and had lunch in a nearby restaurant bar while watching the Olympics. 

First errand was to finally quit our gym.  Realizing we haven't been there all winter (which is normally our time of highest usage), we decided to save the $100/month and invest in some home gym equipment and occasionally a babysitter for Baby M so that we can do a long bike ride or two together this summer.  I went in prepared for the hard sell trying to keep us from quitting, but I think my gargantuan appearance scared them off and they meekly handed over the necessary forms. 

Second stop at our favorite bike store where, in an effort to make me feel less grumpy, Stuart was offering to buy me a new bike.  Seriously? I can't even sit on a bike, much less test ride one, and you want to buy one? He tried, but actually only succeeded in making me grumpier! Poor guy, he's trying!

A few more stops including lunch and then back home to continue watching the calendar and the clock.  I'm trying to get into the Olympics, but winter sports just aren't my thing.  Add in the incredibly tragic death of the Georgian luger, and my constant worries of blood and guts on the ski slopes or the speed skating rink (those blades are sharp!), and it doesn't provide the same motivation that hours of Summer Olympic or cycling or ironman coverage do.  Probably for the best, since right now it would likely only add to my crankiness and point out my continued incapacitation!

  Would a Valentines Day baby really be so bad? Hopefully she won't think so!  In the meantime, she's outlasted all the predictions as to her birthday - the last guess either on this blog or in the pool at work was for February 12th.  Sheesh, kid.  Enough already!