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This study compared the psychosocial maladjustment of a sample of elite intercollegiate athletes to a sample of their non-athlete peers. The Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents and alcohol, depression, and non-support subscales of the Personality Assessment Inventory were administered to 398 undergraduate students (105 intercollegiate athletes) at a large public university in the Southeastern United States. Results show that female athletes reported greater mean scores on measures of social anxiety and depressive symptoms, and lower mean scores on a measure of social support, than male athletes and male and female non-athletes. However, the proportions of female athletes who had clinically significant levels of alcohol problems, depression, and social anxiety, and deficient social support were not significantly different than the proportions of female non-athletes or male athletes and non-athletes. Implications of these findings for the training of athletic personnel in identification of psychosocial distress are discussed.
Athletic participation is an integral component of society. Recognition of the role of sport in the lives of spectators and participants has been accompanied by increased empirical interest into the psychological well-being of elite athletes. As a result of this attention, two diverging schools of thought have emerged within the extant literature regarding the potentially distress buffering or distress contributing nature of athletic participation. The first posits that involvement in recreational sports, particularly during childhood and adolescence, has a number of important physical and mental health benefits. For example, involvement in recreational sports is associated with improved self-esteem (Ryska, 2002), body image (Miller & Levy, 1996), general mental health (Steiner, McQuivey, Pavelski, Pitts, & Kraemer, 2000), and decreased levels of social anxiety (Storch, Barlas, Dent, & Masia, 2002), depression, stress, and diabetes (International Society of Sport Psychology, 1992).
The second, in contrast, suggests that when athletes enter elite levels of sports (e.g., intercollegiate), there are numerous associated Stressors. For example, elite intercollegiate athletes, who typically excelled in their respective high school, must now contend with increased competition level, the vicissitudes of competing for and maintaining a starting position, and negotiating relationships with teammates and coaches. In addition, they often have to cope with the role transition of discontinuing elite sport involvement following graduation, as well as feelings of performance anxiety and decreased social interactions as a result of athletic...