Nature’s Medicine? The Associations of Organized Youth Sport, Unstructured Physical Activity, and Land-Use Recreation with Children’s Mental Health, Emotional Control, and Social Well-Being

TL;DR

This study finds that unstructured and nature-based physical activities may offer greater mental health benefits for children compared to organized sports.

Contribution

The study identifies distinct psychosocial benefits of different physical activity types in children.

Findings

All three activity types were significantly associated with improved psychosocial health.

Unstructured and land-use recreation activities showed higher mental health and emotional control benefits than organized sports.

No significant differences were found in social well-being across activity types.

Abstract

Physical activity is well-established as beneficial for children’s physical and mental health, yet limited research has explored how different activity types impact psychosocial outcomes. This is a cross-sectional study that examined associations between youth participation in organized sport, unstructured physical activity, and land-use recreation and their psychosocial health. Survey data were collected from 3246 caregivers of children in the Intermountain West region of the United States. Respondents reported on children’s physical activity engagement and psychosocial outcomes, including mental health, emotional control, and social well-being. All three activity types were significantly associated with improved psychosocial health (p < 0.001). Compared to organized sport, unstructured physical activity and land-use recreation were associated with significantly higher levels of mental health and emotional control (padj < 0.001), although with a small effect size (η2 < 0.006). No significant differences were observed in social well-being across activity types (p = 0.2928). When controlling for gender and community type, distinct psychosocial benefits emerged between activity types. These findings suggest that, while all forms of physical activity support psychosocial development, unstructured and nature-based activities may offer particular advantages. Findings highlight the importance of promoting diverse forms of physical activity and considering individual and contextual factors in maximizing their psychosocial benefits.