Key Takeaways

Youth sports can help prevent boys from fighting with authority figures

Boys who participated in sports at a young age were less likely to be defiant as tweens

However, no such benefit was seen with girls

TUESDAY, Dec. 9, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Worried your boy is going to be a difficult teen, in constant friction with parents, teachers and other authority figures?

Get him involved in sports, a new study suggests.

Boys who participated in organized sports between 6 to 10 years of age were less likely to show signs of oppositional-defiant disorder in their tweens, researchers reported Dec. 8 in the journal European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry .

“Boys who consistently participated in organized sport showed significantly fewer subsequent oppositional-defiant sympto

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