A new study has found another important reason for kids to join organized sports at a young age.

Aside from exercise, the study, which was conducted in Canada and Italy, found that children in organized sports between six and 10 years old were less likely to defy their parents, teachers, and other authority figures.

Researchers tracked data from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development, involving those born in 1997 and 1998. Nearly 1,500 children who participated in organized extracurricular sports between ages six and 10 conducted a self-report on symptoms of oppositional-defiant behaviour between 10 and 12.

“Oppositional-defiant disorder (ODD) is often under-diagnosed and can co-occur with other developmental disorders,” said the study’s lead author, Matteo Privitera, a doct

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