Research summary · Youth development
Mental health and sports injury in adolescents
A large synthesis examines whether sports injury and poorer mental health are associated in both directions among adolescent and young athletes.
- Publication year
- 2026
- First published online
- Publication type
- Systematic review and meta-analysis
- Journal
- Sports Medicine
- Population / context
- Adolescent and young athletes · Ages 10–24
What the publication reports
Eighty-four studies included 221,095 participants. Injury was associated with poorer mental health and well-being; poorer mental health was also associated with later injury risk (OR 1.54), but that reverse estimate was no longer statistically clear after publication-bias adjustment.
Limits and interpretation
Many studies were cross-sectional, mechanisms were rarely tested and residual confounding is likely. The evidence supports attention to both domains but not a simple causal loop.
Read the source
Consult the original record for the full author list, methods, references, funding and competing-interest disclosures.
Bidirectional Relationship Between Mental Health and Sports Injury in Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Original publication / indexed recordPMID: 41528417DOI: 10.1007/s40279-025-02379-zFull text at the sourceReader discussion
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