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Collegiate athletes have demonstrated a need for social support to help cope with their daily responsibilities. The purpose of this research was to explore National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II athletes' perception of social support from friends, teammates, family, coaches, significant others, and athletic trainers following injury, illness, or other identified life stressors. There were 546 participants who completed a five-part survey using the University Stress Scale, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, the Athletic Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, the Perceived Stress Scale, and a demographic section. Of the participants, 352 (64.5%) stated that they experienced moderate stress levels, and all participants indicated experiencing an identified life stressor within the last 12 months. The results indicated statistically significant differences when comparing providers of social support: females preferred the support of friends, significant others, and athletic trainers, and freshmen and sophomores perceived more social support from friends than did juniors and seniors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depression rates in collegiate student-athletes in the literature are varied and inconclusive, and data have only explored depression symptoms utilizing a crosssectional design. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the temporal course of depression symptoms in student-athletes. Student-athletes (N = 93) from a Division II institution completed six administrations of a brief depression symptom screen once every 2 weeks throughout the fall athletic season. Ten (10.8%) student-athletes' PHQ-9 surveys were red-flagged for moderate to severe depression symptoms at least once throughout the season. A mixed between-within subjects analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a significant interaction effect for time and sex in depression symptom scores, F(3.69, 335.70) = 10.36, p ≤ .001. The repeated-measures design of this study suggests that there are clinical benefits for screening for depression symptoms in student-athletes at multiple intervals throughout an athletic season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The American Medical Society for Sports Medicine convened a panel of experts to provide an evidence-based, best practices document to assist sports medicine physicians and other members of the athletic care network with the detection, treatment and prevention of mental health issues in competitive athletes. This statement discusses how members of the sports medicine team, including team physicians, athletic trainers and mental health providers, work together in providing comprehensive psychological care to athletes. It specifically addresses psychological factors in athletes including personality issues and the psychological response to injury and illness. The statement also examines the athletic culture and environmental factors that commonly impact mental health, including sexuality and gender issues, hazing, bullying, sexual misconduct and transition from sport. Specific mental health disorders in athletes, such as eating disorders/disordered eating, depression and suicide, anxiety and stress, overtraining, sleep disorders and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, are reviewed with a focus on detection, management, the effect on performance and prevention. This document uses the Strength of Recommendation Taxonomy to grade level of evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/purpose: Depressive symptoms are prevalent in student-athletes. Evidence for the factorial validity of measures assessing depressive symptoms in student-athletes is presently absent from the literature. This study examined the best fitting factorial structure and invariance across sexes of the PHQ-9., Methods: Data were collected from 1,524 student-athletes from institutions in the North-Eastern United States. Confirmatory factor analyses of 4 factorial structures of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) were conducted, followed by invariance analyses across sexes., Results: All tested models showed an excellent fit for all tested models and a unidimensional model of the PHQ-9 was chosen for further analyses. Metric and scalar invariance for the identified model across sexes was supported. The participants in this study reported an unusually low (3.13%) prevalence of elevated depressive symptoms, which may indicate underreporting of symptoms., Conclusion: Using a unidimensional, composite score via the PHQ-9 is a valid assessment of depressive symptoms in male and female student-athletes.