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Depression is a major mental health issue.1,2 It is characterized by symptoms of sadness, low mood, and loss of interest in enjoyable activities, and is becoming an increasing concern in college-aged students.3 The prevalence of depression is 8.7% among adults aged 18 to 25 years,4 but increases to 15% to 22% in collegiate students.5 Although collegiate student-athletes are likely to encounter stressors similar to all college students (eg, term papers and examinations), they may also need to cope with physical injuries, failure to meet sport expectations, and sport performance pressure from coaches, team-mates, and family members. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that occurs during similar times of the year (ie, winter months) and is characterized by increased feelings of sadness, eating, and sleeping.6 Moreover, it has been found to occur in some student-athletes who move away from southern states to places with limited sunlight hours and colder weather (ie, northern latitudes), predisposing them to SAD. However, the relationship between symptoms of depression and SAD has not been examined in the collegiate athletic population and warrants further investigation.
Recently, researchers have suggested that approximately 20% of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate student-athletes experience general symptoms of depression.7–9 Specifically, Wolanin et al.1 reported a total of 23.7% of collegiate student-athletes endorsed clinically relevant symptoms of depression, whereas 6.3% of the sample experienced moderate to severe levels of depression symptoms. Researchers have also reported that current collegiate student-athletes have a higher prevalence of depression symptoms (16.8%) compared to graduated collegiate student-athletes (8%).10 In contrast, other researchers have reported lower levels of depression symptoms in collegiate student-athletes compared to non–student-athletes.7,11,12
Few studies have examined sex differences in symptoms of depression in collegiate student-athletes. Most research suggests that female collegiate student-athletes experience significantly higher symptoms of depression (ie, greater symptom severity [2 of 3 on Likert scale] or more total symptoms) compared to male collegiate student-athletes.1,9,11 In addition, Armstrong and Oomen-Early11 reported the strongest predictors of depression symptoms were sex, social connectedness, sleep, and self-esteem.11 However, other researchers have reported no sex differences in high school and collegiate student-athletes in relation to depression symptoms.13 Sex may be a factor in depression due to hormonal differences between males and females, differences in management of...