Table 3 presents results from adjusted analyses stratified by sex. Girls who attended schools offering one or more sports per 100 students were 47% more likely to participate in sports than girls who attended schools offering fewer sports. However, this was not significant in the boys’ model. In contrast, the percent of unrestricted sports offered at school was positively related to boys’ sports selleckchem team participation, such that boys who attended schools with 100% of the sports unrestricted were 12% more likely to participate in sports

compared to boys who attended schools with less than 85% of the sports unrestricted. This association was also significant when the percent of unrestricted sports was treated as a continuous variables (test of trend, p = 0.005). The percent of unrestricted selleck products sports was not significantly related to girls’ sports

team participation (test of trend, p = 0.57). Our results indicate that, in the U.S., high school sports opportunities differentially affect boys’ and girls’ sports participation. Specifically, we found that the variety of choice in school sports offered predicted girls’ sports participation, whereas the percent of unrestricted sports (access) predicted boys’ sports participation. These effects were statistically significant even after adjusting for adolescent-, parent-, and school/town-level covariates, including adolescents’ previous participation in sports and overweight/obese status. Our finding that girls played on more sports teams if they had a wider variety of options to choose from is consistent with Cohen et al.’s8 finding for both sexes. In contrast, we did not find that boys’ participation was related to the variety of sports teams offered at school. Instead, boys played on more sports teams if their school did not restrict participation in the most popular sports (e.g., soccer, basketball). This sex difference could reflect different motivations among

boys’ and girls’ for participating in sports. A prior study found that boys were generally most interested in competitive aspects of specific sports;34 thus, they may be less willing to switch sports if blocked from participating ADAMTS5 in their preferred sport. It is possible that girls were more willing to participate in a variety of different sports because they are interested in the social and physical benefits of sports as well as the competitive aspects.34 and 35 Alternatively, girls may have broader exposure to different sports at an early age and so they feel more comfortable taking advantage of different sport opportunities compared to boys. Future qualitative research is needed to explore the differential motivations, barriers, and facilitators to boys’ and girls’ participation in sports to help contextualize our findings. School-based obesity prevention intervention studies have demonstrated that comprehensive programs that address multiple components of the school environment are most successful.