Sporty girls have better body image confidence

Research on teenage girls in Ireland has found worrying levels of body confidence and mental health issues among those who do not play sport.

The research found that there is a clear gap in encouragement to play sports between girls and boys, and parents are more likely to try to stop their sons quitting than their daughters.

One in two girls will give up sport by the time they are 14, and 47% of them said their main reason for quitting was that their friends were not playing.