Comparing Mental Health of Athletes and Non-athletes as They Emerge From a COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown.

Christopher Knowles,Garry Prentice,Stephen Shannon,Gavin Breslin

doi:10.3389/fspor.2021.612532

Christopher Knowles, Garry Prentice + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2021.612532

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Abstract

Athletes going through transition periods such as injury or retirement have previously reported feelings of depression and anxiety, especially when feeling unsupported. Cessation of competitive sport during the pandemic has forced athletes through a non-normative transition and has reduced many opportunities to satisfy their basic psychological needs increasing the risk of poor wellbeing and loneliness. Whilst athletes are often praised for their resilience—a trait that serves to support them during tough times—the inability to play sport can be particularly challenging for those with strong athletic identities. An online cross-sectional survey (n = 744) was conducted to capture adult athlete and non-athlete mental health factors (specifically wellbeing, depression, anxiety, loneliness) during emergence from a COVID-19 lockdown. Results showed that resilience was positively correlated with mental health but was no higher in athletes than non-athletes. Furthermore, athletes reported greater anxiety than non-athletes, a difference mediated by negative affectivity—a subfactor of athletic identity. We present evidence that after a temporary transition away from sport, athletes' resilience is comparable to non-athletes leaving them just as likely to suffer poor mental health. Moreover, athletes with strong athletic identities are likely to experience anxiety symptoms above and beyond those reported by non-athletes. Findings have implications for the development of self-management guidance for athletes as the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions on sport participation continue.

Highlights

Mental health is defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as, “a state of well-being in which an individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community” (World Health Organisation, 2018)
The current study investigated resilience and athletic identity to improve our understanding of athlete mental health as we emerged from a COVID-19 lockdown
We present evidence that during transitionary times such as COVID-19, there is no significant difference between the resilience of athletes and non-athletes

Summary

Introduction

Mental health is defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as, “a state of well-being in which an individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community” (World Health Organisation, 2018). Athlete Mental Health Post-lockdown transition from normal daily living to a world where mask wearing, social distancing and perpetual uncertainty have become the norm. The predictability of a transition period can determine how successfully an athlete adapts and responds to stressors during this time with normative transitions typically being associated with more positive mental health outcomes than non-normative transitions (Wheaton, 1990; Stambulova, 2003, 2017). The most commonly observed mental health outcomes associated with non-normative transitions in sport (e.g., injury, de-selection, premature retirement) include feelings of depression and anxiety (Wylleman et al, 2004; Appaneal et al, 2009; Rice et al, 2016). During the pandemic athletes have had fewer opportunities to meet their basic psychological needs (Ryan and Deci, 2017) and/or benefit from sport-related social support networks (Ntoumanis et al, 2009; Biddle et al, 2015) which can contribute to poor wellbeing and loneliness (Lippke et al, 2021)

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