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Prevalence of mental health (MH) concerns among young adults is high and continues to increase. As a specific subset of young adults, National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) athletes seem to experience these concerns at a similar or greater prevalence rate than their nonathlete, age-matched peers. Yet, how MH affects sport performance has not been robustly studied, and existing studies have not included the diversity of identities present in the collegiate athlete population. Thus, via online survey, this study explored the beliefs of 249 collegiate athletes representing diverse identities and sports regarding how MH affects sport performance. Regardless of demographic variable, 96.4%–100.0% of participants believed that MH affects sport performance. Three themes were identified: (a) collegiate athletes affirm that MH affects sport performance, (b) collegiate athletes' perceptions of how MH affects sport performance, and (c) collegiate athletes believe that being a collegiate athlete exacerbates their MH concerns. The universality of endorsement and the themes represent novel findings that warrant further exploration of the MH–sport performance connection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key governing bodies (e.g., Association for Applied Sport Psychology) recognize that graduate programs must prepare multiculturally competent practitioners. Students and recent graduates of sport psychology master's degree programs (N = 107, Mage = 26.32, SD = 5.19) reported moderate levels of feeling safe, valued, and comfortable within their program; low to moderate levels of multicultural training integration; and low to moderate satisfaction with their multicultural training. Students of Color (n = 42) compared to White students (n = 63) reported less satisfaction with their multicultural training; felt less safe, comfortable, and valued; and perceived less multicultural integration. Furthermore, perceptions of multicultural training integration and of feeling safe, comfortable, and valued were significantly related to satisfaction with their multicultural training. Training programs are advised to improve integration of multicultural training, invest in program climate to help students feel safe and valued, and ensure continuing education of faculty members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coaches' knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about mental health—or mental health literacy (MHL)—affect teams' mental health climates and the detection, referral, and treatment of athletes' mental health concerns. Thus, assessing collegiate coaches' MHL, and factors related to its presence, is critical. Using the Mental Health Literacy Scale, 1,571 NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) coaches were surveyed regarding their MHL and demographic and mental health experience factors. Overall, 99.9% of the coaches surveyed believe that athletes' mental health affected their sport performances. Through hierarchical regression analyses, coaches' exposure to mental health treatment, perceived helpfulness of mental health treatment, gender (i.e., woman), years coaching (i.e., fewer years), and current NCAA division (i.e., Division III) were significantly related to their MHL, explaining 15.5% of variance. However, coaches' race/ethnicity did not reach significance. Recommendations regarding increasing coaches' MHL and hiring appropriately trained and licensed mental health and sport psychology professionals are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given how COVID-19 had caused significant increases in collegiate athletes' psychological distress, we examined the extent to which such distress may have been ameliorated by the athletes' psychosocial resources (e.g., resilience). We used structural equation modeling to examine the direct and indirect relationships of resilience, self-compassion, and social support to women collegiate athletes' (N = 3,924; 81.2% White) psychological distress; athletes completed measures of these constructs from mid-April to mid-May 2020. Analyses revealed significant direct effects: More supported (β = −0.12 to −0.19), self-compassionate (β = −0.48 to −0.53), and resilient (β = −0.21 to −0.35) athletes experienced less psychological distress (R2 =.61–.65). Further, self-compassion and social support were related indirectly (and inversely) to psychological distress through higher levels of resilience. These psychosocial resources appear to have played a positive role in how athletes coped with the pandemic, being associated with less psychological distress. These findings have application beyond the pandemic, providing direction for how sport psychology professionals may assist athletes in maintaining their well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

College student athletes face unique, sport-related stressors that may lead to, or exacerbate, mental health (MH) concerns and symptoms. Although the National Collegiate Athletic Association has identified MH screening as a best practice, minimal data exist regarding contemporary screening practices. We explored National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I (DI), Division II (DII), and Division III (DIII) athletic departments' current MH screening practices (N = 264). Compared with DII/DIII (53%), a greater percentage of Division I (89%) conducted formal MH screening. At DII/DIII institutions, athletic trainers were more likely to both administer and review screeners than any other sports medicine professional; sport psychologists primarily oversaw these tasks at DI schools. DI, compared with DII/DIII, institutions were more likely to have had a student athlete attempt suicide (62% vs. 40%) and participate in inpatient treatment (69% vs. 43%). There is a clear need for the National Collegiate Athletic Association to continue to promote policies that support MH screening and to create mechanisms in which it can monitor institutional involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although teamwork behaviors would be expected to emerge from coach-created task-involving climates, no study has focused on this connection. Thus, we surveyed female National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I athletes (N = 536) on their perceptions of motivational climates created by their head coaches (i.e., 33-item Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire) and their beliefs about their team's teamwork behaviors (i.e., 19-item Multidimensional Assessment of Teamwork in Sport—Short Form). Cluster analyses revealed three groupings of coach-created climates: low task/high ego (n = 125), moderate task/moderate ego (n = 286), and high task/low ego (n = 125). Through a series of multivariate analyses of variance, with post hoc discriminant descriptive analysis, we found a significant main effect for the motivational climate clusters on teamwork behaviors. Athletes in the high-task/low-ego motivational climate cluster endorsed more teamwork behaviors (e.g., preparation, execution) than those in the moderate-task/moderate-ego and low-task/high-ego climate clusters. These findings suggest the importance of coach-created motivational climates in teamwork behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The onset of COVID-19 and cancellation of collegiate sports may have exacerbated student-athletes' psychological distress. Within a national sample of collegiate athletes (N = 5,755; 66.7% women), we determined how gender and race related to rates of depression, stress, and counseling use at the beginning of the pandemic (April/May 2020). Overall, 26.5% (n = 1,526) and 10.6% (n = 612) endorsed clinical levels of depression and stress, respectively; 25.1% (n = 1,443) and 69.7% (n = 4,014) reported subclinical levels. Few athletes (2.3%–17.1%) reported counseling use before or after the onset of COVID-19; those who did reported higher levels of depression and stress than those who never sought services. The female athletes reported higher rates of depression, stress, and counseling use than the male athletes. There were no race effects. Athletic departments must address their student-athletes' psychological distress by facilitating a higher use of mental health services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time and access to teams may be limited for sport psychology professionals, particularly those working in the college sport setting. Thus, learning how to intervene with teams and individual athletes within short, defined timeframes becomes essential for working effectively in this environment. In this article, using de Shazer's solution-focused brief therapy along with Weinberg and Williams's steps of psychological skills training, the authors describe the development and implementation of a brief intervention under time-limited circumstances (15 days, 15 min/day) through a preseason training program with a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I women's volleyball team. Then, they present data and evaluations based on the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory-28 and athlete feedback, which support program effectiveness. They further reflect on the program strengths (e.g., individualization) and challenges (e.g., limited coach involvement) to provide recommendations for intervening briefly, yet systematically and effectively, to maximize athletes' psychological skills under constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although researchers have examined eating disorders in female athletes, few such studies have been done with athletes who are retired, and even fewer have been quantitative. Thus, the authors empirically tested an established eating disorder theoretical model with 218 former NCAA Division-I female collegiate athletes who had been retired for 2-6 years. In retirement, participants completed measures of general sociocultural pressures related to body and appearance, thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction, dietary restraint, negative affect, and bulimic symptomatology. Through structural equation modeling, the authors examined the direct and indirect relationships among the latent variables while controlling for body mass index and years since retirement. The model fit the data well, supporting the hypothesized direct and indirect relationships among the variables and explaining 54% of the variance in bulimic symptomatology. Despite no longer being exposed to sport pressures that contribute to eating disorders, female athletes experience such symptoms long into retirement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We tested Petrie and Greenleaf's psychosocial model in relation to male athletes' bulimic symptomatology. Through structural equation modeling, we cross-sectionally examined the direct and indirect effects of general and sport-specific appearance pressures, internalization, body satisfaction, drive for muscularity, negative affect, and dietary restraint on bulimic symptomatology. Participants were U.S. male collegiate athletes (N = 698; Mage = 19.87 years) representing 17 sports. With minor respecifications, the model had acceptable fit, and the psychosocial variables explained 48% of the bulimic symptomatology variance. Although all variable paths were significant, sport pressures, such as from coaches and teammates about weight, importance of appearance, and looking good in a uniform, were the most salient latent variable. Athletes' engagement in muscle-building behaviors added uniquely and substantively as well. Our analysis begins to clarify the complex interactions among these psychosocial variables in understanding male athletes' bulimic symptomatology and provides a base from which to develop prevention programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As racially diverse, early-career sport psychology consultants (SPCs), we reflect on our experiences working with collegiate athletes and coaches whose racial/ethnic status were different from our own. Our reflections cover (a) the external effects of stereotypes, presence (and pernicious effects) of microaggressions, and strategies for effectively coping with such transgressions; (b) stereotype threat and how Jeremy Lin's entry into the NBA affected our self-perceptions; and (c) a call to action to further promote a multicultural approach to sport psychology training, research, and practice. In sharing these thoughts, we hope to promote further dialogue in the emerging field of cultural sport psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A lot of evidence showed that boys and girls are at high risk of developing major or minor depression in adolescence. Increases in physical fitness have been associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms, yet the mechanisms that underlie (or mediate) this relationship have not been thoroughly examined. Methods: 528 boys (mean age = 12.33 years) and 507 girls (mean age = 12.32 years) drawn from a suburban school district participated. Self-report measures were used to assess the mediators (body satisfaction and social physique anxiety) and the outcome (depression); the Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER) in conjunction with age, Body Mass Index (BMI), and sex were used to determine an objective estimate of cardiorespiratory fitness. Path analyses were used to test the proposed models. Results: The effects of fitness on depressive symptoms were mediated through body satisfaction and social physique anxiety; 25% to 35% of the depression variance was explained. Conclusion: Boys' and girls' depression scores were based on the extent that their fitness levels improved their body satisfaction and lowered their social physique anxiety; body satisfaction was particularly important for girls. Thus, early adolescents' psychological well-being may be enhanced through improvements in aerobic functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Female athletes have been identified as a subpopulation at heightened risk for disordered eating attitudes and behaviors, particularly due to weight pressures in their environment. Using a sample of 414 NCAA Division-I female collegiate athletes, we examined the relations of required team weigh-ins or self-weighing on disordered eating attitudes and behaviors. Through a series of multivariate analyses, we determined that team weighs were unrelated significantly to all outcome measures. Self-weighing, however, differentiated the athletes' scores on internalization, body satisfaction, dietary restraint, negative affect, and bulimic symptomatology; athletes who self-weighed three or more times a week (sometimes 1-2 times per week) reported significantly higher levels of pathology across all measures. Mandatory team-conducted weigh-ins appear to not be a salient pressure for female gymnasts and swimmer/divers, although the frequency of their self-weighing may represent a level of self-monitoring that is associated with greater endorsement of disordered eating attitudes and behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study of college students showed the Social Physique Anxiety Scale (SPAS) produced largely reliable results. The SPAS model was equally valid when measuring anxiety levels about body size and shape for men and women, although results suggested women were more conscious of their physique than men. This factor may be due to messages from mass media. Findings from this study support earlier work in this area.

Two hundred and fifty female collegiate gymnasts' were grouped as bulimics, dieter/restricters and bingers in an analysis of the eating disorders continuum, and were compared with reference to various personality and attitudinal parameters. Disordered eating is probably the normative behavior among the female athletes, as indicated by the validation of the eating continuum in this group.

The department of psychology at the University of North Texas, USA, conducted a study to examine the influences of life stress on psychological coping skills, competitive trait anxiety and playing staus on injury among 158 NCAA division 1-A football players. The results of multiple regression indicated that the psychological variables accounted for only 60% of injury variance among the beginners, and no relationship between the psychosocial variables and injury existed for non-starters.

Purpose: To investigate the relations between sedentary behaviors and health-related physical fitness and physical activity in middle school boys and girls. Methods: Students (n = 1515) in grades 6-8 completed the Youth Risk Behavior Survey sedentary behavior questions, the FITNESSGRAM physical fitness items, and FITNESSGRAM physical activity self-report questions. Results: When students reported ≤ 2 hours per day of sedentary behaviors, their odds of achieving the FITNESSGRAM Healthy Fitness Zone for aerobic capacity, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility, and body composition increased. Similarly, the odds of achieving physical activity guidelines for children increased when students reported ≤ 2 hours per day of sedentary behaviors. Conclusions: Results illustrate the importance of keeping sedentary behaviors to ≤ 2 hours per day in middle school children, thus increasing the odds that the student will achieve sufficient health-related fitness benefits and be more likely to achieve the national physical activity guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eating disorder prevalence rates among athletes vary greatly because of the different ways in which researchers have measured and classified them, and the extent to which they are higher than those found among nonathletes remains unresolved. The present study examined prevalence of eating disorders, body image issues, and weight control behaviors using a valid diagnostic measure. Participants included 146 male and 156 female NCAA Division I student-athletes and a matched sample of 170 male and 353 female collegiate nonathletes. Overall, eating disorder prevalence rates and use of pathogenic weight control behaviors were lower among nonathletes than athletes. Rates for athletes in the current study were lower than previous studies. These findings are likely due to the lack of anonymity the athletes had when completing questionnaires, as data were collected through athletes' preseason physicals, whereas nonathletes completed questionnaires anonymously over the Internet. Recommendations for athletic departments' screening for eating disorders are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we tested Petrie and Greenleaf's (2007) model of bulimic symptoms in two independent samples of female collegiate swimmers/divers and gymnasts. Structural equation modeling revealed support for the model, although it also suggested additional pathways. Specifically, general societal pressures regarding weight and body were related to the internalization of those ideals and, subsequently, to increases in body dissatisfaction. Pressures from the sport environment regarding weight and appearance were associated with more body dissatisfaction and more restrictive eating. Body dissatisfaction was related to more feelings of sadness, anger, and fear among the athletes. Negative affect, body dissatisfaction, and dietary restraint were related directly to bulimic symptoms, accounting for 55-58% of its variance. These results suggest that general sociocultural pressures are influential, but weight and appearance pressures in the sport environment may be even more pervasive and negative for female athletes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Petrie and Greenleaf (2007) presented a psychosocial model of disordered eating for female athletes. Based upon the 2007 model, the present study examined four key psychosocial variables: internalization, body dissatisfaction, restrained eating, and negative affect, as predictors of bulimic symptoms among NCAA Division I female athletes. Two hundred four women (N = 204) participated and were drawn from three different universities and competed in 17 different varsity sports. Alter controlling for the effects of body mass and social desirability, hierarchical regression analysis showed that the psychosocial variables explained 42% of the variance in bulimic symptoms. In the full model, higher levels of body dissatisfaction, more dietary restraint, and stronger feelings of guilt were associated with bulimic symptomatology. Internalization of the sociocultural ideal as well as feelings of fear, hostility, or sadness were unrelated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research with female athletes has yielded equivocal findings when comparing disordered eating rates to nonathlete populations, but the rates differ for athletes in leanness and nonleanness sports (Sherman & Thompson, 2009). The purpose of the current study was to develop a measure to assess sport-specific weight pressures for female athletes. Secondly, this study identified frequencies of weight, size, and appearance pressures across sports. Participants (N = 204) were female Division I athletes from three universities who represented 17 sports. Exploratory factor analysis yielded a 4-factor solution for the 16-item Weight Pressures in Sport for Females (WPS-F) scale with strong internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha of 0.90). The most frequently reported pressures among female college athletes were teammates (36.8%), uniform (34.3%), and coach (33.8%). These findings are discussed in comparison with previous research along with clinical and research implications for using the WPS-F in sport psychology settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we extended past research (Brannan & Petrie, 2008; Tylka, 2004) by examining perfectionism, optimism, self-esteem, and reasons for exercising as moderators of the body dissatisfaction-bulimic symptoms relationship among female collegiate athletes (N = 204), Hierarchical moderated regression was used to control for social desirability and physical size and then tested the main and interactive effects of the models. Body dissatisfaction was related to the measure of bulimic symptoms, accounting for 24% of the variance. Four variables were statistically significant as moderators. More concern over mistakes and being motivated to exercise to improve appearance and attractiveness or to socialize and improve mood increased the strength of the relationship between body dissatisfaction and bulimic symptoms. Self-esteem had a buffering effect that resulted in a weakened relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To examine the relationships among preinjury and postinjury stress, coping, personality, mood state, and rehabilitation adherence. Design: Participants completed measures of preinjury life-event stress, social-support satisfaction, dispositional optimism, and mood state. Injured athletes completed postinjury measures of mood state, coping methods, and cognitive appraisals of stress and coping ability 1, 4, 7, 14, and 28 days postinjury. Their athletic trainer completed a measure of rehabilitation adherence on those days. Participants: 84 college football players including 19 injured athletes. Results: Negative-life-event stress predicted postinjury mood disturbance, which was positively related with appraisals. Appraisals were related to greater avoidance coping at day 7, greater active behavioral coping at days 14 and 28, and less active cognitive coping at day 28. Active behavioral coping was associated with greater mood disturbance, and active cognitive coping and avoidance coping were inversely related. Conclusions: Results support cognitive-appraisal models of sport injury and dynamic views of coping with injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between preinjury and postinjury stress, coping, personality, mood state, and rehabilitation adherence is analyzed by examining 84 college football players including 19 injured athletes. It was observed that greater perceptions of negative-life-event stress resulted in greater postinjury mood disturbance immediately after injury occurrence.

Examines the possibility of gender bias in the evaluation of sport psychology consultants. Participants; Procedure; Instrumentation; Data analysis.

Describes a season-long, multidimensional sport psychology intervention with a collegiate women's gymnastics team. Effectiveness of program in reducing competitive state anxiety and increasing team cohesion; Levels of social cohesion of gymnasts during the initial part of competitive season; Somatic and cognitive levels.

As the field of sport psychology has evolved and become more focused on applied/practitioner issues, the need for interdisciplinary training has been noted. Little information exists, however, concerning the acceptability of sport psychology training in applied psychology programs. Thus, 41 counseling psychology programs and 41 exercise/sport science departments (matched pairs) were surveyed to determine their relative attitudes toward sport psychology research, training, and current professional issues. The exercise/sport science departments were found to offer more courses in sport psychology and to have more faculty and students interested in sport research. Over 70% of the counseling psychology programs, however, had students with sport psychology interests. In addition, the two academic areas reported equally high levels of acceptance concerning their graduate students pursuing sport psychology research and training. Mechanisms for promoting interdisciplinary training in sport psychology are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]