The New York Times Team Sports May Help Kids With Trauma Skip to main content Close Select your preferred language English عربى 简体中文 繁體中文 فارسي עִברִית 日本語 한국어 Русский Español Tagalog Menu Close Call 1-800-CEDARS-1 toggle search form Close Los Angeles, 11 July 2019 06:00 AM America/Los_Angeles The New York Times Team Sports May Help Kids With Trauma Team sports may help children deal with trauma, according to a study led by Molly C. Easterlin, MD, a former National Clinician Scholars fellow at Cedars-Sinai. Photo by Shutterstock. Team sports may help children deal with trauma, according to a study led by Molly C. Easterlin, MD, a former National Clinician Scholars fellow at Cedars-Sinai. Photo by Shutterstock. The New York Times recently interviewed Molly C. Easterlin, MD, about a study she led, which found that participating in team sports during childhood was associated with better mental health outcomes for adults who had experienced trauma as adolescents. Easterlin, a pediatrician, did the research during a fellowship at Cedars-Sinai through the National Clinician Scholars Program, a prominent program for training nurses and physicians in health services research. "Among children affected by adverse childhood experiences, team sports in adolescence was associated with less depression and anxiety in young adulthood," Easterlin told the Times. Her paper looked at data from 9,668 individuals in a large federally-funded national study that observed participants' health during adolescence and adulthood. Individuals were included in Easterlin's study if they had complete data on exposure to childhood trauma such as physical or sexual abuse or emotional neglect. Among the participants who experienced trauma, team sports participation during adolescence was significantly associated with lower odds of getting a diagnosis of depression or anxiety and having current depressive symptoms as adults. The study was published in JAMA Pediatrics. "When patients screen positive, pediatricians could consider recommending team sports," Easterlin told the Times. "Something about the team environment provides psychosocial support." Cedars-Sinai sponsors two National Clinician Scholars fellows, like Easterlin, each year. They do clinical work and research at the medical center while getting a masters at UCLA's Fielding School of Public Health. Teryl Nuckols, MD, MSHS, director of the Division of General Internal Medicine in the Cedars-Sinai Department of Medicine, leads Cedars-Sinai's involvement in the program. Click here to read the complete article in The New York Times. Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: Sports Are Rarely to Blame for Cardiac Arrest in Young People Related Stories RSS feed - Related Stories (opens in new window) View all headlines - Related Stories Daya s Mystery What Was Causing a Young Girl s Internal Bleeding September 02, 2022 06:00 AM America/Los_Angeles The Dhillon family seemed to be living the California dream, enjoying the waterway just steps from their home on Naples Island. But a little more than five years ago, when their daughter, Daya, began feeling ill, the Dhillon family’s California … Read more Q&A Advice for a Healthy Stress-Free Return to School August 18, 2022 06:01 AM America/Los_Angeles For the past two-plus years, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted children’s education and frustrated parents. Today, with the back-to-school season in full swing, Suzanne Silverstein, MA, ART, founding director of Cedars-Sinai Share & Care, and Rose … Read more Hyperactivation of the Immune System May Cause Post-COVID Syndromes July 07, 2022 09:00 AM America/Los_Angeles Investigators at Cedars-Sinai have proposed a theory for how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, infects the body. Their hypothesis, published in Frontiers in Immunology, could explain why some people still have symptoms long after the … Read more Show previous items Show next items Contact the Media Team Email: [email protected] Contact Marni Usheroff marni.usheroff@cshs.org Share this release The New York Times Team Sports May Help Kids With Trauma Share on: Twitter Share on: Facebook Share on: LinkedIn Search Our Newsroom Social media Visit our Facebook page (opens in new window) Follow us on Twitter (opens in new window) Visit our Youtube profile (opens in new window) (opens in new window) Latest news 07 Oct 2022 - HealthDay: Black Women Less Likely to Get Laparoscopic Fibroid Surgeries 07 Oct 2022 - Faculty Publications: Sept. 29-Oct. 6 07 Oct 2022 - Fine-Tuning Organ-Chip Technology 06 Oct 2022 - KCRW: Want New Omicron Booster? Wait at Least 2 Months After Last Shot 05 Oct 2022 - Cedars-Sinai Schedules Free Flu Vaccine Clinics 04 Oct 2022 - Cedars-Sinai Showcases Hispanic and Latinx Art Newsroom Home