Student Athletes’ Mental Health Has Improved, but Not for All

Each year, the NCAA provides a health and wellness survey for student-athletes across the country. A deep dive into the minds of student-athletes, this survey helps shine a light on a more concentrated college population which can frequently be extrapolated out into the general student body. Some interesting Stats gathered this year are below, and the survey itself will be linked at the bottom of the article

• The four most common mental health concerns for all athletes surveyed were insomnia, mental exhaustion, anxiety and feeling overwhelmed

• Women experienced all four symptoms at much higher rates than men; 44 percent of female athletes reported feeling overwhelmed, for example, compared to just 17 percent of male athletes

• all four common symptoms decreased among male athletes since fall 2021, for female athletes, rates of sleeplessness and anxiety remain about the same as they were two years ago

• Nonwhite athletes also reported a different set of factors impacting their mental well-being than their white peers. While student-athletes of all races said academics had negatively affected their mental health recently, nonwhite students were much more likely to say they were stressed by financial concerns and worries about the future; 35 percent of Black student-athletes cited financial worries, compared to 19 percent of white student-athletes, for instance

• Students of color were also more likely to cite concerns about their families, their playing time, their relationship with the coach, and team environments

• Similarly, LGBTQ+ students were more likely than their cisgender and straight peers to have been negatively impacted by those same stressors

Reference Article: HERE

Survey Results: HERE