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This article comes from Aaron Kuriloff of Bloomberg.com. You can find the full story by clicking here. My thoughts are after the story.

Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) — Playing team sports increases teenage boys’ likelihood to binge drink and fight, while reducing unhealthy behavior in girls, a study found.

Teen girls who played team sports said they fought less, were depressed less often and didn’t smoke as much, according to a study presented today at the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting. Male athletes who played team sports also reported some benefits, such as less depression and smoking, the organization said in a news release.

“Sports team participation appears to have both protective and risk-enhancing associations,” said the study’s author, Susan M. Conner from the Injury Prevention Center at University Hospitals’ Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, in the release. “These results indicate that healthy lifestyle benefits are not universal and do not apply equally across genders.”

The study surveyed 13,000 U.S. high school students to evaluate links between team sports and risky behavior. About 60 percent of the boys reported they played team sports within the last year, compared with 48 percent of girls.

The boys playing team sports reported binge-drinking rates 40 percent higher and fighting 30 percent more often than nonathletes, according to the news release. The athlete boys also showed 30 percent lower rates of depression and 20 percent less smoking.

The girls showed no link to drinking in the study, the research reported. The athletic girls showed 10 percent lower rates of fighting, 30 percent less depression, 50 percent less smoking and 10 percent less unhealthy weight loss habits compared with nonathlete girls, the study found.

This study doesn’t come as a huge surprise to me. I think parents, teachers, coaches, and teenagers have had a pretty good idea about these results for a long time. For many teenagers, especially guys, sports is associated with popularity and popularity is associated with alcohol. In my high school, many of the popular guys were athletes who also drank.

Less smoking among both genders seems obvious as well. It’s difficult to be an athlete at the top of your game if you’re smoking.

It’s also no surprise that sports seems to boost or at least sustain self-esteem. When teenagers have a hobby or something they can spend time doing, it helps self-esteem, especially when a teen can find reason to feel good about sometime. Self-esteem is also built when relationships are built through activities such as sports.

The increase in fighting among athletes vs nonathletes doesn’t seem to be surprising concerning boys. I’ve seen fights break out among fans at hockey games. Guys take a lot of pride in their teams, even if they’re not the ones playing. If guys are playing, that pride increases even more. When someone talks bad about their team, they take it personal. That’s when fists get thrown and fights ensue.

Although much of this information may seem obvious and predictable, it is saddening and scary and something parents should take note of. While athletics can have many positive effects on the lives of teenagers, it can also lead them to take part in things that are unwholesome.

Teenagers will do almost anything to be liked, popular, or just fit in. For some, this is turning to sports. If sports was as far as this went, the problem would not be so complicated and detrimental. Unfortunately, the drive for popularity leads many teens (especially guys) beyond the field and to the bottle. Maybe the boys should take a note from the girls on this one…