Coaches’ Health Promotion Activity and Substance Use in Youth Sports

Kwok Ng, Kasper Mäkelä, Jari Parkkari, Lasse Kannas, Tommi Vasankari, Olli J. Heinonen, Kai Savonen, Lauri Alanko, Raija Korpelainen, Harri Selänne, Jari Villberg and Sami Kokko
Additional contact information
Kwok Ng: Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland
Kasper Mäkelä: Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland
Jari Parkkari: Tampere Research Centre of Sports Medicine, 33500 Tampere, Finland
Lasse Kannas: Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland
Tommi Vasankari: UKK Institute of Health Promotion Research, 33500 Tampere, Finland
Olli J. Heinonen: Paavo Nurmi Centre and Department of Health and Physical Activity, University of Turku, 20500 Turku, Finland
Kai Savonen: Kuopio Research Institute of Exercise Medicine, 70100 Kuopio, Finland
Lauri Alanko: Clinic of Sports and Exercise Medicine, Foundation for Sport and Exercise Medicine, 00530 Helsinki, Finland
Raija Korpelainen: Department of Sports and Exercise Medicine, Oulu Deaconess Institute, 90100 Oulu, Finland
Harri Selänne: Unit of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland
Jari Villberg: Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland
Sami Kokko: Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland

Societies, 2017, vol. 7, issue 2, 1-11

Abstract: There is an increasing amount of evidence suggesting youth sports clubs are an important setting for health promotion. Adolescents in sport club settings can benefit from exposures of positive and negative consequences to health. To better understand the sport club context and coaches’ health promotion activity in substance use prevention, this study compares sport club members with non-members aged between 14–16 years old on their experience and use of alcohol, smoking and snuff and coaches’ health promotion activity on substances. Methods: Adolescents ( n = 671) from sports clubs and from matched schools ( n = 1442) were recruited in this study. Multiple binary logistic regressions were performed on substance use. Results: Higher prevalence of substance use was associated with discussions of substances, often held by coaches. Significantly fewer girls who are sport club members had experiences in alcohol, smoking or snuff than their non-member counter-parts, the differences among boys varied by substance. Fewer sport club members experienced smoking than non-members. More boys used snuff than girls. Conclusions: The most salient points for health promotion were that girls who were sport club members used fewer substances and for boys the picture was more complicated. Coaches could be using reactive strategies through informal learning to address substance use in clubs, although more effective training on substance use for coaches is needed.

Keywords: sport club participation; coach; health promotion; youth; snuff; alcohol; smoking (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 A14 P P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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