Abstract
ObjectivesFew epidemiological studies have focused on the psychological health of high level athletes. This study aimed to identify the principal psychological problems encountered within French high level athletes, and the variations in their prevalence based on sex and the sport practiced.MethodsMultivariate analyses were conducted on nationwide data obtained from the athletes' yearly psychological evaluations.ResultsA representative sample of 13% of the French athlete population was obtained. 17% of athletes have at least one ongoing or recent disorder, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) being the most prevalent (6%), followed by non-specific eating disorders (4.2%). Overall, 20.2% of women had at least one psychopathology, against 15.1% in men. This female predominance applied to anxiety and eating disorders, depression, sleep problems and self-harming behaviors. The highest rates of GAD appeared in aesthetic sports (16.7% vs. 6.8% in other sports for men and 38.9% vs. 10.3% for women); the lowest prevalence was found in high risk sports athletes (3.0% vs. 3.5%). Eating disorders are most common among women in racing sports (14% vs. 9%), but for men were found mostly in combat sports (7% vs. 4.8%).DiscussionThis study highlights important differences in psychopathology between male and female athletes, demonstrating that the many sex-based differences reported in the general population apply to elite athletes. While the prevalence of psychological problems is no higher than in the general population, the variations in psychopathology in different sports suggest that specific constraints could influence the development of some disorders.
Highlights
With the development of applied sports psychology research over the past decades, increasing attention has been turned to the psychological well-being of elite athletes, who make colossal mental and physical investments into their sport, and deal with tremendous pressures in order to succeed at the international level
Some of the psychological issues encountered at the elite level and within particular sports have been studied in depth, and are sometimes highly mediatised, such as depression and anxiety stemming from season or career-ending injuries [5,6], disordered eating in women involved in weight-bearing or aesthetic sports [7,8] or the abuse of illegal performance-enhancing substances [9,10]
Findings from these studies may be difficult to apply to the elite athlete population, who, by a favorable combination of genetic predispositions, personality and environmental circumstances [11,12] added to relentless motivation and hard work, have been able to rise to the top in their sport
Summary
With the development of applied sports psychology research over the past decades, increasing attention has been turned to the psychological well-being of elite athletes, who make colossal mental and physical investments into their sport, and deal with tremendous pressures in order to succeed at the international level. Data on the overall psychological health of elite athletes is difficult to obtain at an epidemiological level, and the athletic populations studied instead are often high school or college sportsmen and women-most of whom never reach the high level. Findings from these studies may be difficult to apply to the elite athlete population, who, by a favorable combination of genetic predispositions, personality and environmental circumstances [11,12] added to relentless motivation and hard work, have been able to rise to the top in their sport. Even in relatively resilient individuals, provided enough adverse circumstances are met, it is conceivable that the added pressures inherent to the high level could facilitate the development of psychological problems
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