Int. J. Sport Health Sci.

Paper : Psychology

Impact of COVID-19 on Athletes’ Daily Lives and

Athletic Activities based on Their Individual
Characteristics
Rei Amemiya

Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8574, Japan
amemiya.rei.km@u.tsukuba.ac.jp

[Received November 13, 2020; Accepted November 30, 2022; Published online February 17, 2023]

This study investigates the relationship between the individual characteristics of athletes and
the perceived impact of COVID-19 on their daily lives and athletic activities. Participants
were 476 Japanese athletes (250 males and 226 females; mean age = 28.39 ± 6.53 years)
registered as respondents at an Internet research company and who met the athletic-related
inclusion criteria. The investigation took place from the 6 th–13th April 2020, just before the
Japanese government declared a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Partici-
pants answered questions related to socio-demographic variables, the impact of COVID-19 on
daily life and athletic activities and completed the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale. The
results showed that the emergency declaration area, marital status, and gender were directly
related to annual income, and that they indirectly influenced the impact of COVID-19 on
athletes’ daily lives and athletic activities through annual income. Additionally, although a
state of emergency being declared in the region impacted the daily lives of all participants
and their athletic activities, unmarried and female athletes with low incomes were among the
most affected by COVID-19-related measures.
Keywords: sports, COVID-19 infection, mental health, Japanese athletes, state of emergency declaration

1. Introduction As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, athletes

The spread of COVID-19 and the impact of its
countermeasures have seriously affected not only the
general public but also athletes worldwide (Schinke et
al., 2020ab). These measures have resulted in Olympic
and Paralympic trials, qualifying meets, professional
events, and even events for general athletes being
cancelled (e.g., International Olympic Committee,
2020; Toresdahl and Asif, 2020). The postponement or
cancellation of sports events caused by the spread of
COVID-19 is expected to greatly impact the mental
health of athletes as they experience disappointment
and isolation (Hull et al., 2020). In addition, most ath-
letes have not been able to train or compete as usual,
or travel to national and international meets (Samuel
et al., 2020); therefore, they have been forced to adapt
to new physiological and psychological challenges
(Samuel et al., 2020). Hence, the global response to
COVID-19 has had an extremely serious impact on
competitive athletes and their athletic activities.
may find it difficult to continue with their athletic
practice or training schedules, and they may even
experience psychological problems and/or
employment-related problems with affiliated organisa-
tions, which could lead to financial problems. Conse-
quently, the necessity to consider their well-being is
being discussed globally (Hull et al., 2020). Since so
many athletes have been affected by COVID-19, it is
critical to develop effective support systems by identi-
fying the unique challenges and consequences faced
by athletes. Therefore, we must examine the athletes
that have been impacted the most and determine how
to provide prompt support to them. As the COVID-19
pandemic is a rare event, it is difficult to compare
athletes’ situations to similar past circumstances.
Therefore, to support athletes, the implementation of
basic survey research and the accumulation of its find-
ings are necessary to assist those attempting to address
the problem.
The impact of social changes caused by COVID-19

44 International Journal of Sport and Health Science Vol.21, 44-55, 2023

http://taiiku-gakkai.or.jp/

is expected to affect athletes’ daily lives and their
athletic careers (Di Fronso et al., 2020). However, the
degree of impact may vary according to each athlete’s
characteristics and environment. For instance, a
Chinese study of college students found that anxiety
caused by the COVID-19 pandemic was related to
participants’ residence (rural areas), steady family
income, and whether they were living with parents
(Cao et al., 2020). The impact of these individual
characteristics is expected to vary depending on the
country and individual circumstances, such as whether
they are an athlete or a student, Japanese or Chinese,
and so on.
Although research on the impact of COVID-19 on
athletes has been gradually published worldwide, and
some studies have observed that female athletes and
injured athletes are prone to higher depression scores
than their counterparts (Vaughan et al., 2020), no
reports have specifically addressed Japanese athletes.
This point is important because some social response
measures, such as social distancing, may affect indi-
viduals differently, depending on their culture (Schinke
et al., 2020ab). Therefore, by clarifying the relation-
ship between athletes’ individual characteristics and
the impact of COVID-19 on their athletic career and
daily lives in Japan, this study aims to provide sug-
gestions for efficacious support for Japanese athletes.
Many countries declared a state of emergency in
response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and some
implemented complete lockdowns, prohibiting outings.
In Japan, a state of emergency was declared in both
the capital and many metropolitan areas on the 7 th of
April 2020; however, there were no severe legal reper-
cussions for not staying at home (Japan Times,
2020b). Even before the state of emergency was
declared in Japan, companies, educational organisa-
tions, and sports facilities began to close, and practice
and training sessions for professional and amateur ath-
letic groups were gradually suspended (Japan Times,
2020a). Other COVID-19-related problems for athletes
included the decision to train, the possible spread of
infection within teams, doubts about guidance upon
the return to competitions, and the employment status
of athletes (Hull et al., 2020); that is, athletes with
high annual incomes may have been affected by can-
cellations and delays. Nevertheless, they were typi-
cally less concerned about their financial situation than
their less-affluent counterparts.
Affluent athletes may be unaware of the impact of
the COVID-19 countermeasures on their daily lives.
Impact of COVID-19 on Athletes’ Lives
Nevertheless, sports leagues and games are a source
of income for professional athletes, and due to cancel-
lations under the prevailing circumstances, an increas-
ing number of athletes face financial problems. Low-
level athletes and especially female athletes are prone
to such problems, placing them in a more difficult sit-
uation (Mehrsafar et al., 2020) than their counterparts.
These financial issues can be a serious problem not
only for the elite athletes, but also for university and
amateur athletes, who may face financial problems
because of workplace closures. Mehrsafar et al. (2020)
therefore proposed that each nation should provide
financial support to athletes and athletic teams. In fact,
the governments of many countries provided financial
support to their general populations after declaring a
state of emergency. In contrast, the Japanese govern-
ment issued no statement providing assurances of sal-
aries when the state of emergency was declared.
Consequently, we propose the following hypotheses
(H): H1—Countermeasures and their impact and the
spread of COVID-19 on athletes’ daily lives will vary
depending on the state of emergency declaration. H2
—Athletes with low incomes may struggle to con- tinue
with their sport. In fact, in a study of Chinese students,
the decrease in household income caused by the
pandemic was associated with students’ perceived
anxiety (Cao et al., 2020). Similarly, athletes who
have low (vs. high) incomes should also be more
aware of the impact of COVID-19 on their athletic
activities. H3—Based on previous research conducted
in other countries (di Fronso et al., 2020; Vaughan et
al., 2020), female (vs. male) athletes will be especially
aware of the impact of COVID-19 on their athletic
activities. In Japan, gender is an individual character-
istic that leads to low annual income (Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development, 2018); that
is, compared to men, the annual income for women is
lower. In addition, the area of residence is also related
to annual income and is expected to have an influence
on the impact of COVID-19 on athletes’ daily lives
and athletic activities.
In examining these hypotheses, we considered mul-
tiple possibilities, created an exploratory model using
various variables related to the impact of COVID-19,
and examined the relationship between these variables
(see Figure 1). Specifically, assuming that the areas of
residence, gender, and annual income are related to
the influence of COVID-19 on the athletic activities
and daily lives of athletes, then annual income is
expected to be a mediating variable between them.
45
Rei Amemiya
Figure 1 Hypothetical model in this study.
2. Material and methods
2.1. Participants and survey period
Participants were 476 Japanese athletes (250 males
and 226 females: mean age = 28.39 ± 6.53 years).
Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was difficult to
conduct a wide range of surveys among the target
population of athletes directly or collectively, as social
distancing or preventative measures restricted access
to not only athletes but also to the general population.
Therefore, we worked through Cross Marketing, an
online survey company, and recruited Japanese ath-
letes registered with them. Consequently, the assumed
population in this study is limited to athletes who reg-
istered as respondents with an Internet research com-
pany. Cross Marketing has 4.73 million registrants,
and we recruited athletes from this subject pool. In an
online survey of female athletes, Kemuriyama and
Amazaki (2013) treated participants as athletes if they
answered, ‘Yes’ to the following question: ‘During the
past year, have you participated in one or more sports
games or tournaments?’ However, in the current study,
we used a stricter criteria: Participants had to be resi-
dents of Japan, between 18–39 years old, practice
competitive sports, belong to a sports team, engage in
training focused on their own sport at least once every
two to three weeks, attend their sport’s competitive
46
events; including district level to world level at least
once every six months, and have played competitive
sports for two years or more. A process was required
to recruit participants from the Cross Marketing data-
base. Firstly, we distributed 294,510 surveys to poten-
tial participants who met the criteria for a practicing
athlete as mentioned above. We then randomly
selected participants for analysis, excluding those who
responded to the question, ‘Please do not answer this
question’ to prevent satisficing (Miura & Kobayashi,
2015). Finally, when selecting participants, we ran-
domly chose male athletes aged 18–29, female ath-
letes aged 18–29, male athletes aged 30–39, and
female athletes aged 30–39, assuming that both the
ratio of males to females and the ratio of age would
remain constant. However, female athletes aged 30–39
had about 20 fewer responses than the other groups.
The sports played by the participants were diverse and
included group sports, such as soccer and softball, and
individual sports, like golf and tennis. In this study,
team sports were defined as sports that required play-
ers to play together with teammates, and an individual
sport was defined as a sport in which a single player
can play in a competition. Table 1 shows the partici-
pants’ characteristics and socio-demographic variables.
The survey was conducted from the 6 th–13th of April
2020. In Japan, the media began discussing the possi-
ble declaration of a state of emergency around the 5th
 Impact of COVID-19 on Athletes’ Lives

Table 1 Socio-demographic variables of participants.

Variables Number Variables Num-

ber
Competitive level 1: National or higher 129 Annual income 1: < JPY 2 million (USD 1,862) 173
(number) 2: Regional or lower 347 (number) 2: ≥ JPY 2 million (USD 1,862) to 124
K10 mean 10.92 < JPY 4 million (USD 37,235)
(score) SD 8.95 3: ≥ JPY 4 million (USD 37,235) 110
Type of sport 1: individual sports 231 to < JPY 6 million (USD 55,852)
(number) 2: group sports 245 4: ≥ JPY 6 million (USD 55,852) 40
Area of residence 1: area without a state of emergency 205 to < JPY 8 million (USD 74,469)
(number) 2: area under a state of emergency 271 5: ≥ JPY 8 million (USD 74,469) 29
Marital status 1: unmarried 293 Employment 1: Full-time 277
(number) 2: married 183 (number) 2: Part-time or unemployed 199
Gender 1: men 250 Impact on athletic mean 8.01
(number) 2: women 226 activities (score) SD 2.40
Impact on daily Mean 7.57
lives (score) SD 2.41

Note: These variables are coded as follows; Area of residence (1: area without a state of emergency. 2: area under a state of emergency),
Competitive level (1: National or higher. 2: Regional or lower), Marital status (1: unmarried. 2: married), Type of sport (1: individual
sports. 2: group sports), Employment (1: Full-time. 2: Part-time or unemployed), Gender (1: male. 2: female).

of April 2020. The actual declaration was made on the
7th of April 2020, and the emergency was scheduled to
last until the 6th of May 2020. The state of emergency
was declared in the heavily populated areas of Japan,
including the metropolitan and surrounding areas
(Chiba, Saitama, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Osaka, Hyogo,
and Fukuoka Prefectures). After participating in the
survey, participants received incentives as stipulated
by Cross Marketing.
2.2. Measurements
2.2.1. Basic participant characteristics
To obtain the participants’ basic characteristics, we
inquired about their gender, marital status (1: married,
2: single), area of residence (1: area without a state of
emergency, 2: area under a state of emergency), and
participant’s annual income (ranging from < JPY
2million [USD 1,862] to ≧ JPY 30 million
[USD
279,260]), based on the conversion rate between USD
and JPY on the 16th of April 2020. To use this vari-
able for analysis, we coded the participant’s income in
line with a previous study (Ueno & Oshio, 2019):
1: < JPY 2 million (USD 1,862), 2: ≥ JPY 2
million
(USD 1,862) to < JPY 4 million (USD 37,235), 3: ≥
JPY 4 million (USD 37,235) to < JPY 6 million (USD
55,852), 4: ≥ JPY 6 million (USD 55,852) to < JPY
8
million (USD 74,469), and 5: ≥ JPY 8 million (USD
74,469). Sports included the type of sport (1: individ-
ual, 2: group) and employment (1: full-time or free-
lance, 2: part-time, student, or unemployed). Addition-
ally, competitive level was coded as 1: national or
higher, or 2: regional or lower, based on a previous
study by Ueno et al. (2018).
2.2.2. Awareness of the impact of COVID-19 on
daily lives and athletic activities
To examine the impact of COVID-19 on daily lives
and athletic activities, we posed a set of questions,
scored on a 11-point scale (0 = ‘no impact at all’ and
10 = ‘full impact’). The questions were: ‘How much
impact has COVID-19 had on your daily life?’ and
‘How much impact has COVID-19 had on your ath-
letic activities?’
2.2.3. Kessler Psychological Distress Scale
We used the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale to
assess the participants’ level of depression. This psy-
chological scale was developed to screen for depres-
sion and anxiety disorders and is used worldwide
(Furukawa et al., 2003; Kessler et al., 2002). Cron-
bach’s α for the scale was 0.947.
2.3. Ethical considerations
To ensure that ethical considerations were followed,
we explained to the participants that they had the free-
dom to choose to respond or not, that the collected
data would be used only for the purpose of the study,
and that personal data would be kept confidential.
Subsequently, only those who provided written con-
sent were allowed to participate in the survey. The

47
 Rei Amemiya

whole survey was approved by the ethics committee
of the affiliated research facility; however, questions
regarding COVID-19 were asked without the approval
of the ethics committee. This was due to the rapid
changes in social conditions caused by COVID-19,
and the lack of time to gain the ethics committee’s
approval. Meanwhile, respondents were free to stop
answering at any point, and no problems were
reported regarding the content of the survey items.
2.4. Analytical methods
To examine the factors related to the impact of
COVID-19 on the daily lives and athletic activities
of athletes, we calculations employed the Pearson’s
product-moment correlation coefficient between vari-
ables. In addition, we performed multiple regression
analyses with forced entry. If the interaction term was
significant, we performed a simple slope analysis.
Subsequently, we performed a path analysis based on
structural equation modelling (SEM) by the maximum
likelihood estimation method using robust standard
errors to examine the relationship between the vari-
ables. The model shown in Figure 1 was reproduced
in the analysis. In the model, area of residence,
depression, competitive level, marital status, type of
sports, employment, gender, and age were set as inde-
pendent variables. Furthermore, annual income was
set as a mediation variable, and the impact on daily
lives and athletic activities as dependent variables.
Additionally, we examined the indirect effect by
applying the bootstrapping method to determine the
indirect effect of the independent variables on the
dependent variables through annual income.
3. Results
At the preliminary analysis, we calculated Pearson’s
product-moment correlation coefficient between vari-
ables. The results revealed significant correlations
between some of the variables (Table 2).
To examine the factors related to the impact of
COVID-19 on athletic activities, we performed a mul-
tiple regression analysis with forced entry. The results
showed that gender (β = 0.14, p < .01) was positively
correlated with impact on athletic activities, while
marital status (β = −0.13, p < .05) and annual income
(β = −0.14, p < .05) were negatively correlated. The
interaction term of marital status and gender
(β = −0.13, p < .05) and the interaction term of mari-
tal status and age (β = 0.11, p < .05) were statistically
significant. Table 3 shows the results of the regression
analysis of the impact on daily lives and athletic activ-
ities.
The interaction terms of marital status and gender
and marital status and age were statistically signifi-
cant. The result of the simple slope analysis showed
that for the interaction term of marital status and gen-
der, males were not impacted by marital status. In
contrast, unmarried female athletes recognised the
impact of COVID-19 on their athletic activities more
significantly than married female athletes (p < .01).
For the interaction term of marital status and age,
young athletes were impacted by marital status; how-
ever, young married athletes were significantly less
aware of the impact of COVID-19 on their athletic

Table 2 Calculation results of Pearson’s correlation coefficients.

Variables 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

1. Competitive level —
2. K10 .02 —
3. Type of sport .01 −.02 —
4. Area of residence −.07 −.02 −.12** —
5.
Marital status .09* − .04 .02 .01 —
6.
Gender −.19** −.01 −.14** .03 .02 —
7. Annual income .02 −.03 .05 .08 .34** −.25** —
8. Age .19** .00 .04 −.04 .54** −.08 .50** —
9. Employment −.00 −.02 .03 .09* .05 −.00 .06 .05 —
10. Impact on athletic activity −.05 −.08 .04 .03 −.14** .18** −.24** −.15** .06 —
11. Impact on daily life −.06 .02 .03 .15** −.08 .18** −.19** −.09 .07 .58** —

* p < .05, ** p < .01.

Note: These variables are coded as follows; Area of residence (1: area without a state of emergency. 2: area under a state of emergency),
Competitive level (1: National or higher. 2: Regional or lower), Marital status (1: unmarried. 2: married), Type of sport (1: individual
sports. 2: group sports), Employment (1: Full-time. 2: Part-time or unemployed), Gender (1: male. 2: female).

48
 Impact of COVID-19 on Athletes’ Lives

Table 3 Multiple regression analysis for athletic life and general life during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Variables β 95%CI p Variables β 95%CI p

Competition level IAA −.00 [−.10-.09] Marital status × sex −.13 [−.24-−.02] .05
IDL −.03 [−.12-.07] −.01 [−.12-.11]
Depression IAA −.08 [−.16-.01] Marital status × income −.06 [−.18-.07]
IDL .02 [−.07-.11] .00 [−.12-.13]
Type of sport IAA .06 [−.03-.15] Marital status × age .11 [.00-.22] .05
IDL .07 [−.02-.16] .12 [.01-.23] .05
Area of residence IAA .05 [−.04-.14] Marital status × employment .03 [−.06-.13]
IDL .17 [.08-.26] .01 .01 [−.08-.11]
Marital status IAA −.13 [−.25-−.01] .05 Sex × income .07 [−.04-.18]
IDL −.12 [−.24-.01] −.02 [−.13-.09]
Gender IAA .14 [.04-.23] .01 Sex × age .09 [−.03-.20]
IDL .15 [.06-.25] .01 .05 [−.07-.17]
Income IAA −.14 [−.25-−.03] .05 Sex × employment .01 [−.08-.10]
IDL −.13 [−.25-−.02] .05 −.04 [−.13-.05]
Age IAA .01 [−.11-.13] Sex × Type of sport .07 [−.02-.16]
IDL .07 [−.07-.19] −.01 [−.09-.08]
Employment IAA .07 [−.02-.16] Income × age −.07 [−.18-.04]
IDL .07 [−.02-.16] −.07 [−.19-.04]
Income × job type .04 [−.06-.14]
.01 [−.09-.11]
2
R IAA .13*** IDL .11***
* p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001.
Note: Abbreviations: IAA = impact on athletic activities, IDL = Impact on daily lives. These variables are coded as follows. Area of resi-
dence (1: area without a state of emergency. 2: area under a state of emergency), Competitive level (1: National or higher. 2: Regional or
lower), Marital status (1: unmarried. 2: married), Type of sport (1: individual sports. 2: group sports), Employment (1: Full-time. 2: Part-
time or unemployed), Gender (1: male. 2: female).

action term of marital status and age were positively

Figure 2 Results of the simple slope analysis assessing the
impact on athletic activities based on marital status and gender
Note: This analysis put in other variables as control variables. The
control variables are the other independent variables shown in
Table 3.
activities (p < .01). The simple slope analysis between
marital status and gender is shown in Figure 2.
We performed a multiple regression analysis to
examine the factors related to the impact of COVID-
19 on daily lives. The results showed that the area of
residence (β = 0.17, p < .01) and gender (β =
0.15, p < .01) were positively correlated with the
impact of COVID-19 on daily lives, while annual
income was
negatively correlated (β = −0.13, p < .05). The
inter-
correlated with the impact on daily lives (β = 0.12,
p < .05).
As the interaction term of marital status and age
was statistically significant for the impact on daily
life, we performed a simple slope analysis. The results
showed that the impact on the daily lives of single
athletes was high, regardless of their age. However,
younger, married athletes were significantly less aware
of the impact on their daily lives compared to those
who were older (p < .05). The result of the simple
slope analysis is shown in Figure 3.
Next, to confirm the predictor variables for income,
we conducted another multiple regression analysis. As
shown in Table 4, age (β = 0.37, p < .01), area of res-
idence (β = 0.11, p < .01), and marital status (β =
0.20,
p < .01) were positively associated with income. In
contrast, gender (β = −0.25, p < .01), competitive
level (β = −0.11, p < .01), interaction term of gender
and marital status (β = −0.16, p < .01), and interac-
tion term of age and marital status (β = 0.13, p < .01)
were negatively associated with income.
A simple slope analysis was performed to examine
the interaction effects between gender and marital sta-

49
Rei Amemiya

Table 4 Multiple regression analysis for income.

Variables β 95%CI p Variables β 95%CI p

Competition level −.11 [−.18-−.03] Employment .02 [−.05-.10]
Depression −.02 [−.10-.05] Marital status × Gender −.16 [−.25-−.07] .01
Type of sport .02 [−.05-.10] Marital status × age −.13 [−.22-−.05] .01
Area of residence .11 [.03-.18] .01 Marital status × employment .02 [−.07-.11]
Marital status .20 [.10-.30] .01 Gender × age −.02 [−.11-.07]
Gender −.25 [−.33-−.18] .01 Gender × employment −.00 [−.08-.07]
Age .37 [.27-.46] .01 Age × employment .02 [−.07-.11]

R2 0.37**
** p <
.01.
Note: These variables are coded as follows; Area of residence (1: area without a state of emergency. 2: area under a state of emergency),
Competitive level (1: National or higher. 2: Regional or lower), Marital status (1: unmarried. 2: married), Type of sport (1: individual
sports. 2: group sports), Employment (1: Full-time. 2: Part-time or unemployed), Gender (1: male. 2: female).

(β = 0.36, p < .001), while gender was negatively cor-

Figure 3 Results of the simple slope analysis assessing the
impact on daily lives based on age and marital status
Note: This analysis put in other variables as control variables. The
control variables are the other independent variables shown in
Table 3.
related with annual income (β = −0.28, p < .01) and
positively correlated with the impact of COVID-19 on
daily lives (β = 0.14, p < .01) and athletic activities
(β = 0.13, p < .01). Annual income was negatively
correlated with the impact on daily lives (β = −0.21,
p < .01) and athletic activities (β = −0.16, p < .001).
The results of the examination of the indirect
impact showed that the area of residence (daily lives:
β = −0.02, p < .01; athletic activities: β = −0.02,
p < .01), gender (daily lives: β = 0.05, p < .05;
ath-
letic activities: β = 0.06, p < .01) and marital status
were (daily lives: β = −0.06, p < .05; athletic activi-
ties: β = −0.08, p < .01) indirectly correlated with the
impact of COVID-19 on daily lives and athletic activ-
ities through annual income. The results of the SEM
are shown in Figure 4.

tus, and between age and marital status. The results

4. Discussion
showed that male married athletes had a higher
income than unmarried male athletes (p < .01), The results of the multiple regression analysis indi-
although the interaction observed between married and
cated that the area of residence, especially in areas
unmarried female athletes were not statistically signif-
under a state of emergency, was associated with the
icant. In addition, athletes who were younger and
impact on daily lives, such that the athletes in these
married had a higher income than younger unmarried
areas felt the impact on their daily lives more acutely.
athletes (p < .01). Previous research targeting non-athletes has reported
Next, we examined the variables using SEM, with
similar results—that post-traumatic stress responses
competition level, depression, type of sport, area of
are higher in people who live in central areas where
residence, marital status, gender, age, employment,
COVID-19 has spread rapidly, than people who live
and annual income as the independent variables, and
in other areas (Liu et al., 2020). Therefore, as the
awareness of the impact of COVID-19 on daily lives
degree of the recognised impact of COVID-19 varies
and athletic activities as the dependent variable. The
depending on the residential areas of athletes, it is
model was saturated. We examined the standardised
necessary to focus assistance efforts based on area.
partial regression coefficient and revealed positive cor- In addition, our findings showed that young married
relations between the area of residence and annual athletes perceived the impact of COVID-19 on their
income (β = 0.11, p < .01) and the impact of COVID-
19 on daily lives (β = 0.17, p < .001). Marital status
was positively correlated with annual income

50
 Impact of COVID-19 on Athletes’ Lives

Figure 4 SEM results for the variables influencing the impact on daily life and athletic life
**p < .01, ***p < .001
Note: These variables are coded as follows; Area of residence (1: area without a state of emergency. 2: area under a
state of emergency), Competitive level (1: National or higher. 2: Regional or lower), Marital status (1: unmarried. 2:
married), Type of sport (1: individual sports. 2: group sports), Employment (1: Full-time. 2: Part-time or unemployed),
Gender (1: male. 2: female).
Although this model is a saturation model, only the significant paths are shown in this figure.

lives to be less than that perceived by other groups.
This result is similar to the findings reported by Cao
et al. (2020), who showed that anxiety in college stu-
dents during the pandemic was associated with social
support and if they were living with their parents.
Thus, it can be inferred that being in an environment
where it is easy to receive support reduces the aware-
ness of the impact of COVID-19 on daily life. How-
ever, in the current study, this effect was observed
only in young married athletes. This finding could be
because as people age, they may be more prone to
experiencing conflicts within their marriage. Further-
more, an increasing number of companies located in
Japan have shifted to remote work, resulting in cou-
ples spending more time together, which, in turn, has
led to the phenomenon of ‘corona divorce’ (Japan
Times, 2020c). The likelihood of family conflict is
expected to increase as the duration of a marriage
increases. Hence, despite being married, older athletes
may experience a greater impact of COVID-19 on
their daily lives, especially in their home environment.
Unmarried female athletes were more likely to be
aware of the impact of COVID-19 than married
female athletes. The results of the SEM showed that
female athletes generally had a lower annual income,
which made them more aware of the impact of
COVID-19 on their athletic activities and daily lives.
Female athletes are more likely to encounter financial
problems than male athletes; for example, there is a
huge financial disparity between female soccer players
and their male counterparts, this is compounded by
issues regarding financial support and the imbalance
of employment (Eunjin, 2017). Globally, female ath-
letes encounter more difficulties earning and winning
prize money than male athletes (Male Champions of
Change, 2019). This situation is similar in Japan,
where it has been noted that females have lower rates
of regular employment and lower incomes than males
(Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Devel-
opment, 2018). Furthermore, COVID-19 had a partic-
ular economic impact on females who were more
likely to be irregularly employed (Japan Times,
2020d). In other words, in the unprecedented situation
of COVID-19, it is easy for groups who are socially
vulnerable to feel burdened and, in Japan, when con-
sidering the problem through an economic lens,
females are one of these affected groups. This is not
limited to athletes; according to a study that used the
National Health Survey data in Chile, their survey that
targeted participants aged 25–55 years, found that
financial stress was related to depression in both males
and females, but its correlation was stronger for

51
Rei Amemiya
females. This indicates that socio-economic situations
and stressful events related to depression were more
likely to be faced by females than males (González &
Vives, 2019). In addition, a cross-sectional survey of
approximately 3,400 people in Spain found that during
the COVID-19 pandemic, being female and experienc-
ing economic instability was associated with symp-
toms of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress
disorders (González-Sanguino et al., 2020). Further-
more, studies of athletes in other countries also found
that female athletes experienced higher levels of
depression, anxiety, and stress than male athletes
during COVID-19 (Di Fronso et al., 2020; Vaughan et
al., 2020). Although not confirmed in their study, these
authors suggested that economic problems played a
role in their findings (Di Fronso et al., 2020).
Gender-based income disparity in the Japanese society
is still a reality and is likely to have affected the daily
lives and athletic activities of Japanese female athletes
during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
In Japan, in the months following the state of emer-
gency declaration, the government subsequently began
to provide financial support to all citizens. However,
during the time of the survey (at the time of the dec-
laration of the emergency), there were no such finan-
cial measures, and information about financial support
was unclear. We can easily expect athletes’ daily lives
and work to have become difficult in such a situation.
Athletes on lower incomes, will be affected by the
lack of continued competitive activities. According to
Lavallee et al. (1997), factors that influence retirement
from competition include work, study, decreased
motivation, poor performance, and financial issues. If
athletes are married, they may have access to a dual
source of income, making it easier for them to resolve
certain financial concerns. In fact, according to a
survey conducted by the Meiji Yasuda Institute of Life
and Wellness Inc. (2008), of the annual household
income of dual-income couples in Japan, 38% is
earned by wives and 62% by husbands. Although it
should be noted that some females change their
employment status post-marriage, as the present
study’s results show, single female athletes experi-
enced a stronger impact of COVID-19 on their daily
lives and athletic activities. As indicated by both the
report from Meiji Yasuda Institute of Life and Well-
ness Inc. (2008) and the results shown in Table 4 of
this study, unmarried female athletes earn approxi-
mately the same income as married female athletes.
However, married male athletes earn more money than
52
married female athletes and can share and rely on the
income of their earning partners This implies that
unmarried female athletes experience less financial
stability and a higher likelihood of psychological
issues as a result, than married female athletes. Thus,
it is speculated that one of the reasons why single
female athletes experience a greater impact on their
athletic and daily lives as a result of COVID-19 is
due to financial problems.
This study has limitations that should be addressed
in future studies. First, the present survey was limited
to Japanese athletes. So, as there are some differences
in the government policies of various countries, the
impact of COVID-19 on athletes is therefore likely to
differ between countries. In addition, although the
present survey included athletes of different competi-
tive levels and sport types, athletes who were training
for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, for example,
might have been impacted more severely. Therefore, it
is necessary to consider the respective characteristics
and situations of top, professional, amateur, and stu-
dent athletes. Furthermore, the results of this study
suggest that unmarried female athletes experience the
effects of COVID-19 on their athletic and daily lives
especially from the financial arena. However, it is also
possible that unmarried female athletes live with
family members, like their parents and siblings, and
so can share in some of the economic resources. Addi-
tionally, it is difficult to conclude that their concerns
in their athletic and daily lives are based solely on
financial issues. Therefore, it is necessary to examine
the other variables aside from this, that could be used
to predict the problems they experience during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Second, we should consider the effects of the sur-
vey design and participant sample on the results of
this study. It should be noted that the participants in
this study were respondents registered with research
companies. In other words, the results of this study
were limited to athletes aged 18–39 who registered as
respondents with an Internet research company and
responded to requests from the research company,
which offered incentives. Regarding income, it is not
clear whether the participants in this study earned
their income from sports organisations as athletes or
whether they played in their spare time while working
at a general company as amateur athletes. In addition,
the possibility of sampling bias in online monitoring
surveys is debatable. For instance, there is a digital
divide between those with and without Internet access,

as those with Internet access report better health than
those without (Tourangeau et al., 2019). Therefore, it
has been pointed out that generalising the results of
Internet surveys to the general population would over-
estimate participants’ health (Tourangeau et al., 2019).
However, at the same time, it has also been shown
that there were no differences in the results when the
same questionnaire was administered in an in-person
setting (e.g., a survey conducted in a group or by
post) versus when it was administered as an Internet
survey (Miura and Kobayashi, 2018; Morita et al.,
2001). Although this finding needs to be interpreted
cautiously, because few studies examine the differ-
ences between the survey methods, it may be said that
it is possible to arrive at the same results through an
Internet survey as conventional in-person question-
naires. A future research study may replicate this
study with the same questions in-person, the compara-
tive results may shed more light on this debate. Con-
versely, it has also been pointed out that the represen-
tativeness of conventional random sampling surveys is
imperfect. In particular, participants in this study were
Japanese athletes registered as respondents with an
online research company. Therefore, instead of inter-
preting results based only on online or offline surveys,
as the present study does, judgements regarding gen-
eralizability should be made based on results obtained
from multiple methods (Kawasaki and Takahashi,
2019; Honda, 2006). Although this study utilised a
cross-sectional survey and given that the impact of
COVID-19 may be long-term, athletes’ awareness
regarding its impact and its relationship with mental
health may change over time. Thus, a longitudinal
study may be necessary. Since the model utilized in
this study was exploratory, the fit between the data
and the model was not examined using the goodness
of fit indices. Therefore, the reproducibility of the
relationships among the variables presented in this
study should be re-examined using multiple data col-
lected from different datasets, to validate the model’s
fit.
Third, we cannot deny that the COVID-19 pan-
demic may have affected the participants’ characteris-
tics. The recommendation for staying at home could
safely be assumed to increase the number of hours
spent at home and allow those who previously had no
time to engage, to respond. As a result, response rates
and respondents may vary depending on the severity
of the spread of COVID-19. The impact on partici-
pants who work as athletes, trainers on a sports team,
Impact of COVID-19 on Athletes’ Lives
or in any other occupation that has been affected by
the COVID-19 pandemic and its countermeasures,
should also be examined in detail in future research.
The method of psychological testing and questioning
used, as well as the coding of the nominal scale, may
affect the results. Therefore, the results of this study
need to be interpreted in consideration of these points.
5. Conclusion
Although the above challenges remain, the present
findings have implications for further research. In this
study, Japanese athletes who were female, single, had
a lower income, and whose residence was under a
state of emergency were more aware of the impact of
COVID-19 on their daily lives and athletic activities
than their counterparts. Therefore, support should per-
haps be focused on the athletes with these characteris-
tics based on the results of the current survey and can
be confirmed by other longitudinal surveys.
Funding
This work was supported by Grant-in-Aid for Early-
Career Scientists (Grant Number 19K19944).
Conflicts of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of
interest.
Informed consent
Written informed consent was obtained from all
individual adult participants included in this study.
Note
Some parts of this study were presented at the 47th Annual
Meeting of the Japanese Society of Sport Psychology in 2020.
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 Impact of COVID-19 on Athletes’ Lives

Name:
Rei Amemiya

Affiliation:
Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, Uni-
versity of Tsukuba

Address:
1-1-1, Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8574, Japan
Brief Biographical History:
2014-2017 Doctoral course in Graduate School of Comprehensive
Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba
2015-2017 Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Research
Fellowship for Young Scientists (DC2)
2017-2021 Junior Assistant Professor, Faculty of Health and Sport
Sciences, University of Tsukuba
2021- present Assistant Professor, Faculty of Health and Sport
Sciences, University of Tsukuba
Main Works:
• Amemiya, R. and Sakairi, Y. (2022). Examining the Relationship
between Depression and the Progression of Burnout Among Jap-
anese Athletes. Japanese Psychological Research, 64, 373-384.
• Amemiya, R. and Sakairi, Y. (2021). Relationship Between
Mindfulness and Cognitive Anxiety-Impaired Performance: Based
on Performance Evaluation Discrepancies. Asian Journal of Sport
and Exercise Psychology, 1, 67-74.
• Amemiya, R. and Sakairi, Y. (2020). The Role of Self-Compas-
sion in Athlete Mindfulness and Burnout: Examination of the
Effects of Gender Differences. Personality and Individual Differ-
ences, 166, 110167.
Membership in Learned Societies:
• Japan Society of Physical Education, Health and Sport Sciences
• Japanese Society of Sport Psychology
• Japanese Psychological Association

55