When COVID-19 hit the United States in spring of 2020, collegiate student-athletes, who had sport seasons canceled and were forced to move off-campus, were uniquely and significantly impacted. Psychosocial resources, such as social support, self-compassion, and resilience, may have been used to help athletes cope with the stress of COVID-19. I used structural equation modeling to analyze the relationship of resilience, self-compassion, and social support to collegiate female athlete's (n = 3,924) psychological well-being at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Collectively, the more supported, self-compassionate, and resilient the athletes reported being, the less psychological distress they said they were experiencing (resilience to psychological distress (β = -.215, p < .001), self-compassion to psychological distress (β = -.533, p < .001), and social support to psychological distress (β = -.187, p < .001)). Further, self-compassion and social support were related indirectly (and inversely) to psychological distress, to the extent that they contributed to the athletes perceiving themselves as more resilient (Self Compassion X Resilience X Psychological Distress: β = -.106, 90% CI [-.148, -.069]; Social Support X Resilience Psychological Distress: β = -.065, 90% CI [-.099, -.041]). The total effect of social support, which included the direct and indirect effects, also was significant (β = -.253, 90% CI -.307, -.196]), as was the total effect of self-compassion (β = -.639, 90% CI [-.679, -.597]). Although I collected my data in the context of this pandemic, the supported relationships have application beyond it and can guide how sports medicine professionals intervene with athletes and their general mental health concerns.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc1833572 |
| Date | 08 1900 |
| Creators | Mikesell, Matthew |
| Contributors | Petrie, Trent, Boals, Adriel, Chu, Alan, Hook, Joshua |
| Publisher | University of North Texas |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | v, 103 pages, Text |
| Rights | Public, Mikesell, Matthew, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights Reserved. |
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