Running head: MENTAL HEALTH IN COLLEGE & PROFESSIONAL ATTHLETES 1
Mental Health in College & Professional Athletes
Alayjah Sherer
PSY 3180
Austin Peay State University
Running head: MENTAL HEALTH IN COLLEGE & PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES 2
Abstract
College and professional altheltes suffer from many mental and emotional problems. They have
tremendous stress placed upon them by their peers, schools, coaches, society, their families and
themselves. They are expected to excel at sports and their academic work. Many of these athletes
also work and go to school along with handling other responsibilities. This may explain why
many college and professional athletes suffer from multiple mental health issues. Many have to
seek and receive mental health treatment from helping professionals and face negative criticism
from some in society. This paper will take a look at how one study was done to see how many
college and professional athletes suffer from, seek and receive help for their mental health issues.
Running head: MENTAL HEALTH IN COLLEGE & PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES 3
Mental Health in College & Professional Athletes
Introduction
There are many college and professional athletes who suffer from mental health issues.
But many of them are not offered help for these issues. There are quite a few college and
professional athletes who do seek and receive mental health services. College and professional
athletes who suffer from mental health issues may not seek treatment due to not being offered the
services, the stigma from the public and because they cannot find the help they may need.
Purpose of the Study
There are several purposes of this study. One purpose is to answer the question of do
college and professional athletes seek help for their mental health problems? Another purpose of
this study is to inform the public as well as professionals about the mental health problems which
college and professional athletes suffer from. Lastly, this study helps to seek answers to the
questions of: do college and professional athletes seek help for their mental health problems?
Also, the questions of what kind of mental health services do college and professional athletes
seek? The question of how can the stigmas of college and professional athletes who seek mental
health services be reduced?
Case Study
Three specific groups will be the focus of these studies. They will be college and
professional athletes both male and female who suffer from mental health problems. Research
will show how some college and professional athletes may seek mental health services from their
respective college or university if it is offered and made readily available to and for them.
College and professional athletes are at a particularly high risk for mental health problems and
Running head: MENTAL HEALTH IN COLLEGE & PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES 4
many often do not seek help. College and professional altheltes make choices daily about their
mental health and other problems.
Literature Review
In a study done by Moreland, Coxe & Yang (2018), it was found that there are some
barriers to college athletes who may want to seek and receive help for their mental health
problems. One of the barriers to getting mental health services for some college athletes is
funding. Many colleges and universities may not have the necessary monies which it takes to
operate on campus mental health facilities. There have been major budget cuts to many
educational programs which have not enabled college athletes and other students to receive help
for their mental health problems. This study also showed that college athletes are twice more
likely to suffer from substance abuse, depression, anxiety and other mental health problems than
other college students. This leaves them vulnerable and in need of mental health services than
other students. This may be due to college athletes suffering from high levels to stress because
they have to perform at higher levels than their peers.
In another empirical study done by Capone (2018), 465 participants who were college
athletes were used in this study. The purpose of this study was to determine how severe
depression was in some collegiate athletes. A total of 12 sports were represented and the
population was white males and a mixture of mixed race female athletes. The study had results
which showed that female collegiate athletes had the most prevalence level of depression. This
could mean that they may need more mental health services than their male counterparts.
The next study was done by Barnard (2016). The purpose of this study was to take a
critical look at the attitudes and stigma which surrounds collegiate athletes who have mental
health issues and who seek and receive professional help for them. Two of the colleges or
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universities in this study which were used were private and one was public. This study had a time
frame of three months. This study had a determination of protecting the collegiate athlete as a
student and their identity from negativity due to them getting professional help for their mental
health problems. This study showed that there is a need to support awareness of mental health
problems on all college and university campuses. More detailed and lengthy empirical studies
were needed to explore race, gender and specific sports and how they are directly linked with
collegiate athletes needing more mental health services.
Kroshus (2016) did an empirical study and found that mental health services were badly
needed on most college and university campuses. 365 clinicians were some of the participants in
this study. 307 were trainers for the athletes and 54 were doctors and 4 did not offer up their
professions. The participants were asked questions about whether or not any of the athletes
