Athletes outside of the US also struggle with mental health Issues. A study done by Graupensperger, Sutcliffe and Vella focused on mental health struggles of adolescent athletes in Australia. The study consisted of 3956 participants at age 12, 3537 at age 14, and 3089 at 16. The current study examined longitudinal associations between sport participation and mental health symptoms such as depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, emotional symptoms, hyperactivity symptoms, conduct problems, peer problems, and prosocial behavior. The results showed that several significant within-person symptoms of mental health issues were found. (Graupensperger, Sutcliffe and Vella: 2021) Similarly, in another study, done in Japan, the study focused on mental health states of student-athletes in 2020. Out of the two studies done, the one that can benefit my research the most is the second one. The second study focused on the relationship between perceived social support from teammates, student-athletes’ identity, and mental health. The results showed a significant correlation between social support, student athletes’ identity, and mental health. Therefore, a student’s mental health can be swayed by the support or non-support of their teammates.. (Hagiwara, Tsunokawa, Iwatsuki, Shimozono, & Kawazura: 2021). The final sources for this subtopic are studies done on UK male and female Rugby players. 208 female rugby players completed an online multisection questionnaire measuring mental health literacy, general help-seeking intentions, distress, and well-being. Their study found that 64.4% of players, particularly those who had been previously medically diagnosed with a mental disorder and bisexual rugby players. (Oftadeh-Moghadam, Shakiba and Gorczynski: 2022) These articles may give me some more universal insight as to how athletes from around the world handle issues of mental health. (Hind et al: 2022) These article are important because they show how athletes worldwide can struggle from issues with mental health caused by their sport.
I will also be discussing views from people associated with athletes and seeing what their thoughts are on mental health struggles in athletes. These people include athletic trainers and coaches. A study done by a Canadian researcher using a qualitative analysis of the data gathered from interviews revealed that the coaches perceived the enhancement of student athletes’ personal development to be an important part of their role. (Banwell: 2016) The coaches had noticed that their athletes were showing signs of mental health decline and wanted to become more involved in improving their personal development. Another source focused on the perspective of Athletic Trainers and what their experience was with their athletes struggling with mental health disorders. Their studies through interviews found that many Athletic Trainers did not feel qualified to deal with mental health crises. (Loveless, Games, Shea, Thews and Winkelmann: 2022) These sources are useful to my research because they offer insights as to how comfortable athletes may be if they have to go to a trusted source about a mental health problem.