The dual pandemic: COVID-19, systemic racism, and college student-athletic mental health

ABSTRACT

The dual pandemic of 2020 – COVID-19 and systemic racism – continues to reshape society. The current study examines how this dual pandemic contributes to the psychological distress of college student-athletes, with attention to college student-athletes who identify as Black, Indigenous, or people of colour (BIPOC). A total of 222 student-athletes from nine universities completed the online survey. Student-athletes reported COVID-19 had a moderate impact on daily life. The direct effect of COVID-19 on psychological distress was found to be positive and significant but did not differ for BIPOC and White participants. Additionally, nearly all BIPOC student-athletes reported experiencing systemic racism; yet the level of systemic racism did not predict psychological distress. Findings provide insight related to the importance of mental health among college student-athletes.

KEYWORDS:

• Sport
• positive youth development
• psychological distress
• social justice
• coach education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Due to the nature of this research, participants of this study did not agree for their data to be shared publicly, so supporting data is not available.

Notes

1 Although the term pandemic often is used to refer to bacterial and viral disease, the phrase “dual pandemic” recently has been used to reference the intersectional and culminating effects of COVID-19 and systemic racism. Further, “dual pandemic” has been utilized by the medical field and social science disciplines alike (e.g., Ferguson et al., 2021; Godlee, 2020; Lipscomb & Ashley, 2020; Martínez et al., 2021).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Roger A. Ritvo Award, College of Health and Human Services, University of New Hampshire.