| There is an increasing amount of evidence suggesting youth sports clubs are an important
setting for health promotion. Adolescents in sport club settings can benefit from exposures
of positive and negative consequences to health. To better understand the sport club context
and coaches’ health promotion activity in substance use prevention, this study compares sport
club members with non-members aged between 14–16 years old on their experience and use
of alcohol, smoking and snuff and coaches’ health promotion activity on substances. Methods:
Adolescents (n = 671) from sports clubs and from matched schools (n = 1442) were recruited in
this study. Multiple binary logistic regressions were performed on substance use. Results: Higher
prevalence of substance use was associated with discussions of substances, often held by coaches.
Significantly fewer girls who are sport club members had experiences in alcohol, smoking or snuff
than their non-member counter-parts, the differences among boys varied by substance. Fewer
sport club members experienced smoking than non-members. More boys used snuff than girls.
Conclusions: The most salient points for health promotion were that girls who were sport club
members used fewer substances and for boys the picture was more complicated. Coaches could be
using reactive strategies through informal learning to address substance use in clubs, although more
effective training on substance use for coaches is needed |