Coming from a broken home or suffering abuse can traumatize a child, but new research suggests team sports might be just the medicine these kids need.
Tracking U.S. health data from nearly 10,000 people, researchers found that teens who experienced childhood trauma and played team sports had lower odds of depression and anxiety as young adults.
“As a pediatrician going through training, you see a lot of children and families who face these challenges, and often we don’t have medical prescriptions to recommend,” said study author Dr. Molly Easterlin. She’s a clinical instructor in pediatrics at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and a fellow of the UCLA National Clinician Scholars Program in Los Angeles.
“Medications don’t necessarily treat these experiences and the mental
