"The things I do for sport": Associations with mental health in student-athletes.
Literature concerning university sport suggests that student-athletes make a myriad of behavioural sacrifices (e.g. pain, academics, sleep) to support their participation. While willingness to sacrifice has been linked with a host of positive outcomes (e.g., cohesion), whether athlete behavioural sacrifice is linked to mental health is currently unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between behavioural sacrifice and mental health in university student-athletes. Using a non-experimental design, university student-athletes (N = 45; Mage = 20.02) completed a multi-item questionnaire tapping behavioural sacrifice, the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale, and the Perceived Stress Scale. Participants did report making sacrifices for their sport, with sacrifice of leisure activities and sleep being most common. Results of bivariate correlations between behavioural sacrifice and mental health were in directions hypothesized, yet none reached conventional levels of significance (p > .05). Further, behavioural sacrifice did not significantly predict mental health. Results of the study showcase that student-athletes do make a variety of sacrifices to accommodate the demands of university sport. Additionally, findings surrounding mental health support the need for further investigation into sacrifices made within sport to develop a better understanding of associated outcomes.
Student-Athletes, Sacrifice, Mental Health, Mental Well-Being, Perceived Stress
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