Relationship between School-Age Sports Participation, the Use of New Technologies, and Suicide Risk in Adolescents
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Abstract
Organized extracurricular sports for school-age children promote extensive benefits, enhancing physical, psychological, and social well-being. Sports boost self-esteem and reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. However, excessive technology use affects about 4.4% of adolescents in Europe, with "Problematic Use of New Technologies" (PUNT) involving behaviors that disrupt daily responsibilities in favor of digital activities. Prolonged technology use, especially over five hours a day, correlates with increased depression, suicidal thoughts, and impulsivity. On the other hand, protective factors like strong social support, family and school connections, sports participation, and structured routines mitigate these risks. This study examines links between extracurricular sports, technology use, and adolescent psychological factors: hopelessness and suicide risk. We can infer that men show a greater tendency to practice sports regularly compared to women, with a significance level of p=0.044. Sports participation is associated with less problematic use of these technologies (p=0.015). Adolescents who do not practice sports exhibit a higher level of problematic use (p=83.86) compared to those who regularly engage in sports (p=66.27). This study shows that sports are associated with lower levels of hopelessness and suicide risk in adolescents, with statistically significant results (p=0.001 and p=0.002, respectively). The results indicate that problematic technology use (including internet, video games, mobile phones, and television) is associated with a higher risk of suicide and increased levels of hopelessness in young people. Six problematic behaviors were measured (withdrawal, craving, deception, unsuccessful attempts to quit, feelings of pleasure or relief, and dominance), showing correlations of -0.59 between hopelessness and problematic use (p=0.024) and -0.19 between suicide and problematic use (p<0.001).