Parents Reassess Youth Tackle Football After Study Put NFL CTE Risk at 1 in 4
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Aug 26
Parents Reassess Youth Tackle Football After Study Put NFL CTE Risk at 1 in 4
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Aug 26
Summary
A new study released Tuesday intensified parents’ doubts about letting children play tackle football, especially in football-centric communities where social pressure to join can be strong.
At least 1 in 4 people who played in the NFL might expect to develop chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the study found, linking repeated head impacts to a degenerative brain disease.
CTE is associated with behavioral changes, rage, memory loss, depression and advanced dementia, adding to fear and guilt among parents who already allowed their children to play.
In Midland, Texas, one family said they reluctantly let their seventh-grade son join after he argued that most boys in his class had signed up, underscoring the trade-off parents see between brain-injury risk and social isolation.