Thursday, December 21, 2017

Do Sports Build Teenager's Character?

Here is a paper showing sport's failure to prepare teenagers for adulthood.
We analyze these effects in the US separately for men and women using three different nationally representative longitudinal data sets that each link high school athletics participation with later-life outcomes. We do not find consistent evidence of individual benefits reported in many previous studies – once we have accounted for selection, high school athletes are no more likely to attend college, earn higher wages, or participate in the labor force. However, we do find that men (but not women) who participated in high school athletics are more likely to exercise regularly as adults. Nevertheless, athletes are no less likely to be obese.
Maybe my gym membership was a result of the sports I played in school. Unfortunately, it seems my character was not.