Ashley Tree

Professor Isamel Benjelloun

ENC 1102
09 April 2023

Introduction

College athletics are the pride and joy of many schools across all athletic

divisions and conferences in the United States. It brings the school major funding,

recognition, and students to the school every year. The student athletes are required to

be full-time students, which is a minimum of twelve credit hours a semester. The

athletes are highly praised for all their hard work in and out of season but student

athletes aren’t checked up on mentally like they do physically unless they actively reach

out. Some injuries or illnesses an athlete faces isn’t something you can see. Many

recent studies have found that suicide is the fourth leading cause of death in student

athletes which has raised the concerns of many researchers as they question whether

the lack of sleep and increased stress levels may be the cause. The current state of the

research is that up until recent years, mental health has been an unspoken epidemic

silently affecting thousands of college and professional athletes across the globe. Many

of the resources have mentioned the major effects COVID had specifically had on

college athletes and their mental health accordingly. As new studies have shown an

increase in mental health in college athletes, many organizations including the NCAA

have shifted focus towards this major concern. Based on this information my research

question I formulated is what are the effects division one sports have on mental health

in college athletes. By researching this question it will allow me to understand how

writing and language play into the world of a student athlete and how it can add

additional stress to the already stressful conditions they live in.

Review of Literature

From many different sources, they all discussed similar topics and completed

experiments or surveys to back up their findings. An article from USC, “How USC

Student-Athletes Strengthen Their Game Through Mental Health” and the NCAA, “

Mental health issues remain on minds of student-athletes” shared the exact same

findings that there has been a significant increase in the rate of mental health issues in

the self-reported surveys received from the NCAA and how these organizations are

striving to make changes to help athletes across all sports. The NCAA started during

COVID to send out surveys to universities across the nation so athletes could

anonymously report about their own mental health and stress over COVID. Since then,

the NCAA has used this data to show the difference in students mental health over the

years, as well as started to send out surveys to coaches to see what they notice in their

athletes mental health. The NCAA found, “the data indicated rates of mental exhaustion,

anxiety and depression have seen little change since fall 2020 and remain 1.5 to two

times higher than identified before the COVID-19 pandemic”(Johnson). With this data,

they’ve begun to ensure that all schools are offering the students proper mental health

guidance. The article “An exploration of subjective wellbeing” did find similar findings as

that of both USC and the NCAA but they took it even a step further and proceeded to do

a mental health check across multiple sports, genders, and team dynamics, and

reported that females have a higher chance of mental health issues across the board
but more specifically in the sport of track and field compared to the rest that were

studied. However, take this study as a grain of salt because this study was done at one

division one school in the South East in comparison to the NCAA survey that was sent

to multiple division one athletes across the nation.

The other two articles, “As college sports pivot, mental health becomes a bigger

priority” and “Breaking the Stigma” talk more about how mental health has been a very

hushed topic in the world of sports despite it taking control of many athletes' lives. The

NBC article, “As college sports pivot, mental health becomes a bigger priority”

specifically talks about how coaches during COVID did everything they could to help

their athletes' mental health and mood as they struggled during a very unusual

timeframe knowing it was affecting their lives. Similarly, the USC article mentioned ways

that coaches and athletes have tried to improve their mental health and included

personal stories of how they’ve grown by overcoming their mental health issues and

how it has made them a better athlete in the long run, as well as a person. The

“Breaking the Stigma” article provides a great overview to all of the other articles

explaining these effects of mental health on all athletes as a whole but continues to

explain ways for coaches and family to help out and be aware of the issues at hand

before it becomes too overwhelming causing major problems.

The parts of the research that is missing and is not well known is the mental

health concerns for other college division teams as division one is the only one that has

had major testing done. However, due to the major intensity differences between all

three college athletic divisions, experts have not found it to be a pressing issue in

division two and three athletics as well as intramural sports. Though, it would be
beneficial to see if the intensity level is a reason behind the additional stress for college

athletes. There is also little research done on the mental health of college rowers

specifically, in many cases directly studying one college they do not have data on the

rowing team if they have one or the college selected does not have the team. There is

also no research to see if teams that are a ranked team, which is in the top twenty-five

in the country, have a difference in mental health results compared to a team that is not

ranked. I will continue to build on the research of the NCAA and USC to see the current

mental health state of a division one team as they prepare to enter their competition

season when everything is the most stressful for them.

Methods

I chose my research collection method to be a survey because it would be a

quick and easy way to get a bunch of data from the UCF Women’s Rowing Team in a

short amount of time for both the experimenter and the participants. These participants

were chosen because all of them are division one athletes who are currently in the

middle of their competition season, which in theory is the timeframe they would have the

most amount of stress. This team was also chosen because I had the most access to

the team due to also being on the team with them, allowing me to receive more honest

answers. The rowing team consists of women across multiple countries including

America, New Zealand, Australia, Italy, England, and Poland who are between the ages

of 17 and 23, who have been rowing for at least 7 months and are full time students at

UCF. I collected my data through a google survey that was sent into the team group

chat with my initial query then sent out a week later reminding the team about doing my
survey if they so choose. The survey itself consisted of eight questions that ranged from

multiple choice answers, free response answers, and on a scale about their mental

health, stress, and advice to other athletes to improve their mental health. The data I

analyzed were categorized into useful information and non useful information that

consisted of one word answers that didn’t really answer the question asked. The sample

size of this study was really small compared to the initial group size I was aiming for,

originally there was supposed to be at least 50 responses as per people on the team,

but only 20 responded. Of these twenty that responded, four of them consisted of one

word answers that did not accurately reflect how the athlete actually felt. I feel that the

other responses were not heavily influenced by the athletes knowing the experimenter

because it was completely anonymous with no way to track back answers, allowing

athletes to be honest in their responses. What I would do differently is send out the

same survey to multiple different sports to allow a variety of people to respond including

the men’s teams, so if people choose not to respond there will be more data to collect

from those that do as well as the results apply to more college athletes across the

board.

Results & Discussion

It was found that at least 75 percent of all respondents found that they were more

stressed during race season than out of season. More than 50 percent of the

respondents found that they felt more than above average when feeling well rested for

practice, school, and work, with only 10 percent of respondents feeling completely

unrested. When students were questioned about things they do to improve their mental

health many responded with “journaling”, “sleep”, “bible”, and talking to “family &
friends” helped them on a daily basis, while also promoting others to do the same to

help their mental health but have noted that these things might not work for everyone.

Many athletes found that being on a Division one team put additional stress and

pressure on them compared to the average student due to actual team stress as well as

this internal pressure to “hold themself to a higher standard.” It was significant to find

that more than 75% of all respondents felt they were more stressed during their in-

season because there has been no studies directly looking to see if in-season or out of

season was more stressful for an athlete. It shows that there is something different

about in-season that adds additional pressure to the athletes. It would be worth looking

to see if it’s the athletes' competitions that are more stressful for them or balancing their

schoolwork and athletics during a busier season is the cause of their stress. Though, it

was found that all the athletes in this study were stressed by the team, but less than

25% found they were stressed by schoolwork, which shows that there is a possible

cause of what causes stress in athletes but there is not enough data to make the claim.

Athletes have their classes specifically built around their athletic schedules to try to

prevent being overwhelmed. They also have direct recommendations by academic

advisors to pick classes to work towards their degree without cramming in an

unnecessary amount of credit hours a semester. Compared to the average college

student, student athletes have more guidance regarding the paths they should take in

college regarding classes as well as paths to consider after college. Though, all student

athletes are required to maintain a minimum GPA in order to train and perform for their

designated teams which can be a stress factor for some athletes. With only 10% of

respondents feeling completely unrested, it shows that lack of sleep and health isn’t a
major factor of stress for the athletes. This year the UCF Rowing Team has started

using WHOOP watches to track multiple different fitness aspects to help optimize

performance and many athletes have found through this new technology that they are

not recovering as much as they should be, causing a new desire to try to stick to a

better sleep schedule. Many athletes have found since the beginning of the season in

August of 2022, that their recovery rate has increased due to their new regimen,

possibly explaining why so many athletes felt that they’re more rested. Student athletes

are held to a higher level of competition as well as to a higher standard in their

classrooms, which could be why the athletes feel this higher amount of internal pressure

to hold themselves to a higher standard worried they’re letting down the team or

themselves. Lindberg explains, “whether in academia, athletics or other areas of

performance, that intense pressure to excel can lead to profound emotional

distress”(Lindberg). This shows that it’s not one singular thing in a student athlete's life

that leads to mental health problems and distress.

Conclusion

Colleges and teams need to focus not only on the physical performance of their

athletes but on the mental health of their athletes to ensure that they are thriving at a

mental and psychological level. Knowing that student athletes are under an immense

amount of pressure during their seasons trying to hold themselves to a higher standard

as an athlete as well as a student, teams should check up on their athletes frequently.

Standardized checks by a trained and certified psychologist would greatly improve

many athletes' mental health by knowing they have someone they can turn to for help
without having to have the fear of admitting they need help. By having their athletes at

the most optimal level physically, mentally, and psychologically, athletic and student

performance will increase across the board immensely. Not all athletes will continue

their sport and make it a professional career, so athletes should enjoy their time

performing for and representing their school, while also studying for their jobs and life

after college.
 Work Cited

Academy, U. S S. (2020, September 2). Student-Athletes: An exploration of subjective

wellbeing. Retrieved February 18, 2023, from The Sport Journal website:
https://thesportjournal.org/article/student-athletes-an-exploration-of-subjective-
wellbeing
Athletes and Mental Health: Breaking the Stigma. (2021, August 10). Retrieved from
Cleveland Clinic website : https://health.clevelandclinic.org/mental-health-in-
athletes
Aviles, G.(2020, August 31). As college sports pivot, mental health becomes bigger
priority. Retrived from NBC News website: https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-
culture/pop-culture-news/college-sports-programs-pivot-mental-health-becomes-
bigger-priority-n1238468
Johnson, G. (2022, May 24). Mental health issues remain on minds of student-athletes.
Retrieved from NCAA.org website: https://www.ncaa.org/news/2022/5/24/media-
center-mental-health-issues-remain-on-minds-of-student-athletes.aspx
Lindberg, E. (2021). How USC Student-Athletes Strengthen Their Game Through
Mental Health. Retrieved from USC News website: https://news.usc.edu/trojan-
family/college-athlete-mental-health-usc-sports-psychologists/