Effect of Strenuous Physical Activity on Teen's Sexual Risk-Taking Differs Based on Gender, Race and Type of Activity

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Gender, race and type of strenuous physical activity -- whether on an organized sports team or informal physical exercise -- play a role in the relationship between physical activity and sexual risk-taking by teen-agers, according to a study led by a researcher at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions (RIA).

The study showed that both informal physical exercise and organized athletic participation act as a buffer against sexual risk-taking by female adolescents. Physically active girls were about 15 percent less likely to report risky sexual behaviors (for example, unprotected sex, use of alcohol or illicit drugs prior to sexual intercourse or multiple sex partners) than physically inactive girls.

By comparison, boys overall who engage in strenuous physical exercise were 19 percent more likely to take sexual risks. However, the relationship between sports participation and sexual risk differed by race. White male athletes, when compared to their nonathlete counterparts, were less likely to report sexual risk-taking. Black male athletes were more likely to report sexual risk-taking than black male nonathletes.

The latter finding was of particular concern because past research has found consistently that black teen-age boys already are at higher risk for such behaviors than any other category of adolescents, even before physical activity is taken into account. The black male adolescents in this study were significantly more likely than their white male peers to report engaging in at least one risky sexual behavior.

"What we found is that there is a complex relationship between physical activity and adolescent sexual risk," said Kathleen E. Miller, Ph.D., research scientist at RIA. "Gender, race or ethnicity, and the type of activity -- sports or exercise -- all make a difference in the relationship.

"Our findings confirm that sports participation affects sexual risk outcomes in both gender-specific and race-specific ways."

The research team also included Grace M. Barnes, RIA senior research scientist and adjunct associate professor in the Department of Sociology in the UB College of Arts and Sciences; Merrill

J. Melnick, professor of physical education and sport at Brockport State College; Donald F. Sabo, professor of sociology at D'Youville College, and Michael P. Farrell, professor and chair of the UB Department of Sociology.

Miller said the negative consequences of risky teen sex in the U.S. remain high. The Department of Health and Human Services has estimated that nearly one million teen-age girls experience unintended pregnancies in the U.S. annually, costing taxpayers between $7 billion and $15 billion. In addition, nearly four million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases in adolescents occur annually, costing billions of dollars.

"Because of the positive connection between girls' involvement in sports and reduced sexual risk," Miller concluded, "school and community programs that support and encourage female athletic participation -- such as the funding of girls' teams, recruitment of elite, female athlete role models, and promotion of gender equity in athletics -- represent an investment in immediate and long-term public health for girls and women."

For boys the implications are less clear, she added. Discouraging male sports participation would be neither practical nor desirable. However, according to Miller, the strong relationship between sports participation and risky sexual behavior for black male adolescents suggests that athletic programs cannot simply be used as a blanket strategy to encourage healthy sexual decision-making among all teens. Athletic opportunities for adolescents, especially those at highest risk for unsafe sexual activity, must be actively coupled with overt and positive messages about sexual responsibility.

The study was part of a larger grant, "Sports, Gender, and Adolescent Substance Use," funded by a $462,000 award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Results were published in December in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.