Changes in U.S. girls’ participation in high school sports: implications for injury awareness

ABSTRACT

Context

The number of female athletes has grown exponentially since Title IX. However, little data exists on the proportion of women and girls who play each sport.

Objective

To quantify changes in female sports participation in high school sports from 1973 to 2018.

Design

Retrospective analysis of data from the National Federation of State High School Associations Participation Survey.

Setting

US high schools.

Participants

US high school athletes from 1973 to 2018.

Main Outcome Measures

Percentage of female participation for each high school sport in 5-year intervals; and changes in rates of participation by player gender and sport at designated intervals.

Results

From 1973 to 2018, the percentage of high school sports played by girls increased from 24.2% to 42.9% ([95%CI, 18.6,18.8], p < 0.0001). In the 14 sports included in our study, all had an increase in the percentage of female participation between 1973 and 2018. >80% of the increases occurred between 1973 and 1998 for all sports except lacrosse, ice hockey, football, and wrestling. Between 1998 and 2018, the percentage of girls playing each sport increased by less than 5% in all sports, except for ice hockey (11.5%, 95% CI 11.0, 12.0, p < 0.001) and wrestling (7.1%, 95% CI 6.9, 7.1, p < 0.001).

Conclusions

Girls’ participation in high school sports continues to grow not only in numbers but in the types of sports played. Between 1998 and 2018, the greatest increases were noted in ice hockey and wrestling, which had fewer than 1% female participation before 1998. Physicians providing care for female athletes should be aware of these changes and understand the potential injuries associated with these sports.

KEYWORDS:

• Female athletes
• gender
• high school sports
• sports participation
• injury risk

Declaration of interest

The authors declare they have no conflicts of interest relevant to the content of this article.

Additional information

Funding

No sources of funding were used to assist in the preparation of this article.