Stress, Anxiety and Depression in Olympic Athletes

Document Type : Original article

Authors

1 Ph.D student in Psychometric. Allameh Tabatabaie University, Tehran, Iran

2 Associated Professor, Psychiatrist, School of Rehabilitation, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

3 Physical Education Student, Tehran University. Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Background and Aim: Little study about psychological health has been done in the sports setting. The present study was designed to assess depression, anxiety, stress, in a sample of athletes at the elite level.
 
Material & Methods: In this descriptive comparative study, sample contains 63 highly successful athletes who won medals in competitions such as Olympics. Sixty three elite athletes-(35 male -28 female) with mean age 23.95 (SD=7.32) were evaluated by DASS 21 test. We assigned them in two groups-(active and inactive athletes). There was a third control group including 70 subjects with same age and sex and education without history of sport activity.
We used ANOVA test to determine differences in outcomes between groups. The data were analyzed by SPSS 16 software.
 
Results:In the present study, mean age of 63 participant was 23.95 (SD=7.32). In Athletes group and control group included 35 (56%) male and 28 (44%) female, and 27 (41%) male and 39 (59%) female respectively. The results of ANOVA test for comparison among three groups (active and inactive‎ athletes and normal) did not show significant difference on depression, anxiety and stress variables.
 
Conclusion: Our results indicated that there is not any significant difference on depression, anxiety and stress between the elite athlete and general population.

Keywords

References

  1. Yang J, Peek-Asa C, Corlette JD, Cheng G, Foster DT, Albright J. Prevalence of and risk factors associated with symptoms of depression incompetitive collegiate student athletes. Clin J Sport Med. 2007; 17(6):481-7.
  2. Reddy  M S. Depression: The Disorder and the Burden. Indian J Psychol Med. 2010; 32(1): 1–2.
  3. Chaudhury PK, Deka K, Chetia D. Disability associated with mental disorders. Indian J Psychiatry. 2006; 48(2):95–101.
  4. Mummery K.  Depression in sport . Lancet. 2005;366 Suppl 1:S36-7.
  5. Lawlor DA, Hopker SW.The effectiveness of exercise as an intervention in the management of depression: systematic review and meta-regression analysis of randomised controlled trials. BMJ. 2001;322(7289):763-7.
  6. Schaal K, Tafflet M, Nassif H, Thibault V, Pichard C, et al. Psychological Balance in High Level Athletes: Gender-Based Differences and Sport-Specific Patterns . PLoS On  2011;6(5) e 19007.
  7. Hammond TH, Gialloreto CH, Kubas H , Davis H, Clin J Sport Med 2013; 23(4) : 273-277.
  8. Schmikli SL, Brink MS,Vries WR, Backx FG. Can we detect non –functional overreaching in young elite soccer players and middle-long distance runners using field performance tests? Br J Sports Med. 2011;45(8):631-6.
  9. Hinkle JS. Integrating sport psychology and sports counseling. Journal of Sport Behavior 1994; 17, 52-60.
  10. Murray  M A. The counseling needs of college student-athletes. Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences,1997; 58, 2088.
  11. Gould D, Eklund RC.Jackson SA.Coping strategies used by U .S.Olympic Wrestlers. Res Q Exerc Sport. 1993; 64(1):83-93.
  12. Humphrey JH, Yow DA, Bowden WW. Stress in college athletics: Causes, consequences, coping 2000. Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Half-Court Press.
  13. Papanikolaou Z, Nikolaidis D, Patsiaouras A, Alexopoulos P.  The freshman experience: High stress-low grades. Athletic Insight: The On-line Journal of Sport Psychology, 2003; 5(4). http://www.athleticinsight.com/Vol5Iss4/Commentary.htm
  14. Norton PJ,Burn JA,Hope DA,Bauer B K .Generalization of social anxiety to sporting and athletic situations:gender,sport involvement and parental pressure. Depress Anxiety. 2000;12(4):193-202.
  15. StorchEA, StorchJB, KillianyEM, RobertiJW.Self-reported psychopathology in athletes: acomparison of inter collegiate students-athletes and non athletes.J Sport Behav 2005; 28(1):86-98.
  16. Antony MM, Brlow DH. Handbook of Assessment and Treatment Planning for Psychological Disorder. New York, Guilford press. 2002.
  17. Lovibond PF, Lovibond SH .The structure of negative emotional states: comparison of the depression anxiety stress scales (DASS) with the beck depression and anxiety inventories. Behav Res Ther. 1995;33(3):335-43.
  18. Asgharimoghadam MA, Dibajnia P,Saed F, Zanganeh J. A  Preliminary Validation of Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS) in non- clinical sample. Daneshvar Raftar Journal 2009; 1(31):23-38.
  19. Antony MM, Bielling Pj, Cox Bj, Enns MW, Swinson RP. Psychometric properties of the 42-item and 21-item version of the Depression and Anxiety Stress scales in clinical groups and community sample. Psychological Assessment, 1998;10(2): 176-181.
  20. Brown, T.A Chorpita, B.E, Korotitsch, W, and Brlow DH. Psychometric properties of the Depression Anxiety Stress scales (DASS) in clinical samples. Behav Res Ther. 1997;35(1):79-89.
  21. Parham WD. The intercollegiate athlete: Couns Psycho 1993;21(3):411-29.
The Scientific Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine
Volume 3, Issue 2 - Serial Number 2
July and August 2014
Pages 54-59

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics