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Time use and health and wellbeing outcomes of sport school students in Australia

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Abstract

Purpose

Adolescents who aspire to excel in both sport and academics are provided the opportunity to pursue their ambitions in a focused and integrated manner at sport schools. Sport schools have been established internationally, yet previous literature tells us little about the outcomes of these students. This study investigated: (1) differences in the time commitments and self-reported health and wellbeing of ‘matched’ samples of sport school and non-sport school students, and (2) the impact of weekly sport volume on sport school students’ health and wellbeing outcomes and burnout.

Methods

Two hundred and thirty-three students (n = 187 student-athletes; n = 46 non-sport school students) from one large metropolitan school in Australia completed an online survey that captured information about time use, sport involvement and health and wellbeing.

Results

Sport school students spent less time in sedentary leisure and similar time studying to non-sport school students and had better general health and social and emotional wellbeing than non-sport school students.

Conclusion

It was concluded that the flexible and integrated structure of sport schools may provide an appropriately balanced and supportive environment for student-athletes.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the staff and students at Rowville Secondary College.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Sport Research, School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia

    Olivia Knowles, Paul B. Gastin & Peter Kremer

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  1. Olivia Knowles
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Correspondence to Olivia Knowles.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study, as well as from a parent or guardian of participants under the age of 18 years.

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Knowles, O., Gastin, P.B. & Kremer, P. Time use and health and wellbeing outcomes of sport school students in Australia. Sport Sci Health 13, 427–435 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-017-0378-1

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