Susie Nielson, NPR, May 28, 2019.
As a child, Molly Easterlin loved playing sports. She started soccer at age 4, and then in high school, she played tennis and ran track. Sports, Easterlin believes, underlie most of her greatest successes. They taught her discipline and teamwork, helped her make friends and enabled her to navigate the many challenges of growing up.
When Easterlin became a pediatrician, she started seeing a lot of children suffering from trauma, from physical abuse to emotional neglect. Many of these kids didn't respond fully to traditional treatment for trauma and depression. Frustrated and searching for answers, Easterlin turned to her own past. "I suspected that sports might have a powerful impact [on kids]," she says.
Easterlin wanted to know: Could sports improve the lives of people with trauma the way they'd improved hers?
Her research, published Tuesday in JAMA Pediatrics, finds that, in short, yes: Participation in team sports as a young person can significantly reduce the long-term likelihood of depression and anxiety for people with childhood trauma. But according to Easterlin and other experts, the growing cost of youth team sports means that they can be off-limits to those who may need them most, kids living in poverty.
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