Sports- and Physical Activity-Related Concussions, Binge Drinking and Marijuana Use among Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Depression and Suicidal Ideation

Abstract

Background

Although past studies have examined the adverse impact of sports- and physical activity-related concussions (SPACs) on health and mental health outcomes, there is a dearth of research investigating the association between SPACs and binge drinking and marijuana use.

Objective

The objective of this study is to examine the cross-sectional association between SPACs and binge drinking and marijuana use among adolescents and whether symptoms of depression and suicidal ideation mediate this association.

Methods

Data for this study came from the 2017 and 2019 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey. An analytic sample of 17,175 adolescents aged 14–18 years (50.2% male) was analyzed using binary logistic regression.

Results

Of the 17,175 adolescents, 13.7% engaged in binge drinking and 19.3% used marijuana 30 days preceding the survey date. Approximately one in seven (14.1%) adolescents had SPACs during the past year. Upon controlling for the effects of other factors, adolescents who had SPACs had 1.74 times higher odds of engaging in binge drinking (AOR = 1.74, p<.001, 95% CI = 1.47–2.06) and 1.42 times higher odds of using marijuana (AOR = 1.42, p<.001, 95% CI = 1.24–1.62) than those who did not have SPACs. Symptoms of depression and suicidal ideation explained 12% of the association between SPACs and binge drinking, and 19% of the association between SPACs and marijuana use.

Conclusions

Understanding the association between SPACs and substance use and mental health could contribute to early identification of adolescents who may engage in substance use.

Keywords:

• Sports- and physical activity-related concussions
• traumatic brain injury
• binge drinking
• marijuana use
• depression
• suicidal ideation
• adolescents

Acknowledgements

This article is based on publicly available data from the 2017 and 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of CDC or that of its partners. Dr. Baiden had full access to the data and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Declaration of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interests with respect to the authorship and/or the publication of this paper.

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.