Mental health in amateur football players

Christian Zepp, Johanna Belz*, Jens Kleinert

*Corresponding author for this work

Publication: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution - Published abstract for conference with selection processResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Athletes are exposed to a wide variety of stressors and adversities that may negatively impact mental well-being and the risk for depression, resulting in drop out or declining performance (Howells & Fletcher, 2015). However, only few studies focus on mental well-being and the risk for depression in amateur football players (Glick & Horsfall, 2009). The aims of this study were (a) to describe mental well-being and the risk for depression in amateur football players, and (b) to analyse whether mental well-being and the risk for depression are related to team membership. The sample consisted of N = 20 football teams with a total of N = 285 athletes (age M = 23.6 years, SD = 4.4). Mental well-being was assessed using the Well-Being Index (WHO-5; Blom, Bech & Högberg, 2012) and risk for depression was assessed using the Patient-Health-Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2; Kroenke & Spitzer, 2003). Results of a multilevel analysis with team membership as level 2 variable showed that approximately 4% of all players were at risk of suffering from impaired mental well-being and risk for depression, with younger athletes being at higher risk. Moreover, the results demonstrated that team membership explained 5% of conspicuous mental well-being cases and 10% of the risk of depression cases. Younger football players should be taught coping strategies to deal with the stressful demands that they face. In addition, group processes and environmental factors that inhibit mental well-being whilst increasing the risk for depression in football players should be analysed in future studies.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAbstract book : 50 years of FEPSAC. 15th European congress of sport & exercise psychology, Münster, Germany, 15-20 July 2019
EditorsBernd Strauss, Barbara Halberschmidt, Till Utesch, Dennis Dreiskämper, Sebastian Brückner, Maike Tietjens, Vera Storm, Linda Schücker, Friederike Rosenfeld, Charlotte Raue, Stijn Mentzel, Meike Kolb, Lena Henning, Lena Busch
Number of pages1
Place of PublicationMünster
PublisherDepartment of Sport and Exercise Psychology, University of Muenster
Publication date2019
Pages287
Article number4.26
Publication statusPublished - 2019
EventFEPSAC 2019 - 15th European congress of sport & exercise psychology: Building the future of sport & exercise psychology - Universität Münster, Münster, Germany
Duration: 15.07.201920.07.2019
Conference number: 15
https://www.fepsac2019.eu/

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