This topic in particular is one that interests me and also one that I'm conflicted with. Because I played football for 16 years and I still love watching the game, it's difficult for me to believe evidence that says the players I'm watching on ESPN could have a shorter life expectancies because of the game they're playing. With previous players now getting older, the cases of mental health repercussions are growing steadily, and much of the blame is on the lack of player safety and proper equipment. There is overwhelming evidence that previous NFL players who have reported getting concussions do damage to the longterm health of their brain. Recently, an article in the journal Neurology shows that players who started younger in childhood are experiencing decreased mental capabilities than those who started later in childhood in later ages in life. Additionally, another study published in Neurology in 2012 showed higher rates of possible neurodegenerative diseases were greater in football players than the general U.S. population for males longterm
In the recent study, 42 former NFL players with an age range of 40-69 were split into two groups: a group who started playing after the age of 12 and a group who started playing before the age of 12. The groups were comparable on each of their age ranges now and the amount of years they had been playing in the NFL. Interestingly, the group who started playing before the age of 12 showed decreased performance in strategic planning abilities, verbal memory, word pronunciation, flexibility in decision making, and problem solving than the group who started playing after 12 years old. With participation in youth football declining 29% from the years 2008-2013, it may be evidence like this that reminds parents why they are keeping their kids off the football field.
While this study suggests that it is the age at which the players started that makes a difference in their mental abilities later in life, many have argued that it is the prolonged exposure to head trauma that is doing the severe damage. With the evidence found in 2012 of NFL players showing increased signs of neurodegenerative diseases younger than the general population, with a balance of starting ages, it would seem as if both studies are supplemental to the overall picture of concussions and head trauma at any level of football.
It is difficult to form a take-home message after looking at these studies. Some medical professionals have urged parents to keep their kids out of tackle football until the age of 14 or all together. Others say football is ingrained in our society and provides kids with a means to learn important values like teamwork and discipline. Many see football as a tool for opportunity to get high school students to the college of their choice or to get out of a rough neighborhood.
While the choice for parents is a difficult one, there is overwhelming evidence that playing tackle football at any age is a risk to your mental health. Even as the game becomes safer with penalties being thrown for head-head contact and helmet technology improving, one cannot deny that in a game like football, where head trauma is so frequent, the game is dangerous for long term mental health.
http://www.neurology.org/content/early/2012/09/05/WNL.0b013e31826daf50.full.pdf+html
http://www.espn.go.com/pdf/2015/0128/otlBUfootballstudy.pdf
http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/12243012/ex-nfl-players-played-tackle-football-youth-more-likely-thinking-memory-problems
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-28/nfl-players-tackled-young-show-weaker-brain-function-later
Eli
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