Contrary to popular belief, playing organized youth sports alone does not reduce, and may even increase, a person’s chance of committing violence over their lifetime, according to a new study.
The study was recently published online. Sports Sociology Journalfound that while most survey respondents, including youth athletes, had never engaged in violence, 17% reported having committed an act of violence. Playing a high-contact sport regularly or dropping out of an organized youth sport after first playing were particularly associated with committing violent acts over the life course.
Our findings challenge the common notion that sports are inherently good – that if you let your kids play sports after school, you’ll be fine. There’s more to this story. ”
Emily Nasnagle Lead author, PhD student in the Ohio State University School of Social Work and former captain of the Ohio State University National Championship Pistol Team
Nasnagle and study co-author Chris Noster, a sociology professor at Ohio State University, found that type of sport, level of commitment, length of commitment, and positive peers all influence the association between organized youth sports and violence.
Sports are widely loved in society. “Not only is sport thought to bring a lot of positive things, but great sports mythology suggests that it happens automatically,” Knoster said. “If you just roll the ball and throw some kids onto the field, good things happen. They learn self-control, patience, discipline, how to get along with each other, how to get healthier, without intervention or direction.”
Nosnagle wanted to test these assumptions, particularly the link between sports participation and acts of physical violence.
This study used survey data from 3,849 adults who participated in the National Survey on Sports and Society (NSASS), sponsored by the Ohio State Sports and Society Initiative (SSI). Study participants voluntarily participated through the U.S. Population Panel operated by the Ohio Center for Human Resources Research (CHRR). Participants from all 50 states completed the survey online from fall 2018 to spring 2019.
Data from this study focused on participants’ sports participation patterns during both their formative years and adulthood, as well as their experiences with violent behavior across the lifespan.
About two-thirds of the study participants participated in organized sports while growing up, and most played but eventually dropped out. Almost 30% of participants reported regularly participating in high-contact sports. Although most survey participants reported never having been involved in a violent act, approximately 17% said they had been involved in a violent act, and 3% of those said they had participated in a violent act in the past year. The most common acts of violence cited were physical fights and hurting someone seriously enough to require medical treatment.
The study found that those who participated in organized youth sports were 7 percentage points more likely to have committed a violent act than those who had never played. This was driven by people who joined or dropped out of organized sports, who were 5 percentage points more likely to commit an act of violence than those who never participated in organized sports. Additionally, respondents who regularly played close contact sports while growing up were 8 percentage points more likely to engage in violent behavior than those who did not.
Researchers found no significant difference between those who played organized sports consistently and those who never played.
The message from this study is that “there is evidence that sports participation is not associated with a reduced risk of committing violence,” Knoster explained. In fact, we found consistent evidence that sports are likely to increase the risk of violence, and this is particularly true when people play more violent sports. This suggests that if we want more positive outcomes, it is important to reconsider how we implement sport in our society, and the types of programs and messages we introduce to children. result. ”
He pointed to Ohio State University’s LiFE as an example of an organized sport focused on positive youth development.sports The program teaches social and leadership skills to young athletes and provides coach education, all backed by research that shows the program is successful.
Mr. Nothnagle is an active leader and researcher related to LiFE.sports and its Coaches Beyond program, she said she hopes that learning more about what conditions lead to positive or negative outcomes for people participating in sports could lead to more systemic change.
”Life skills can be taught, not captured. So it’s about creating an environment that shapes the behaviors and outcomes you want,” she said.
The National Sports and Society Survey was funded and supported by The Ohio State College of Arts and Sciences, SSI, and CHRR. Nothnagle received a graduate student research grant from SSI to fund the project.
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Reference magazines:
Nothnagle, E. A., and Knoester, C. (2026). Does sport participation deter or encourage violence? Patterns of sport participation and violent behavior across the lifespan. Journal of Sociology of Sport. DOI: 10.1123/ssj.2025-0140. https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/ssj/aop/article-10.1123-ssj.2025-0140/article-10.1123-ssj.2025-0140.xml
