Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Playing team sports increases teenage boys’ likelihood to binge drink and fight, while reducing unhealthy behavior in girls, a study found.

Teen girls who played team sports said they fought less, were depressed less often and didn’t smoke as much, according to a study presented today at the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting. Male athletes who played team sports also reported some benefits, such as less depression and smoking, the organization said in a news release.

“Sports team participation appears to have both protective and risk-enhancing associations,” said the study’s author, Susan M. Conner from the Injury Prevention Center at University Hospitals’ Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, in the release. “These results indicate that healthy lifestyle benefits are not universal and do not apply equally across genders.”

The study surveyed 13,000 U.S. high school students to evaluate links between team sports and risky behavior. About 60 percent of the boys reported they played team sports within the last year, compared with 48 percent of girls.

The boys playing team sports reported binge-drinking rates 40 percent higher and fighting 30 percent more often than nonathletes, according to the news release. The athlete boys also showed 30 percent lower rates of depression and 20 percent less smoking.

The girls showed no link to drinking in the study, the research reported. The athletic girls showed 10 percent lower rates of fighting, 30 percent less depression, 50 percent less smoking and 10 percent less unhealthy weight loss habits compared with nonathlete girls, the study found.

To contact the reporter on this story: Aaron Kuriloff in New York at akuriloff@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 9, 2009 12:51 EST