Mental health symptoms and correlates among amateur football players: a cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study was to evaluate mental health problems reported by Turkish amateur football players. A total of 4516 Turkish amateur football players were invited to complete an anonymous online survey including demographic and COVID-19 pandemic related questions, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, General Anxiety Disorder-7 scale, and Athlete Psychological Strain Questionnaire. A total of 1263 players participated in the study (27.9% response rate). Single players reported higher depression and anxiety scores than married players. Higher depression, anxiety, and athletes-specific stress scores were reported by players with an annual income <$5,000 and those reporting an income loss >75% during the COVID-19 pandemic. Players with a sports injury history, psychiatric illness, sleep problems, and perceived inadequate social and/or organizational support reported poorer indices relative to their counterparts. Implementation of mental health screening among amateur football players may assist in detecting vulnerabilities and initiating appropriate timely intervention.

KEYWORDS:

• Soccer
• depression
• anxiety
• athlete-Specific stress
• APSQ

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the coaches and officials who supported us with data collection, and Nazlı Deniz Öz for her assistance with the data analysis.

Author contributions

YL: study design, data collection, data analysis, interpretation of data, manuscript preparation, and editing

SR: study design, interpretation of data, and manuscript revision

Disclosure statement

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

Ethical approval

The study was approved by the ethics committee of Selcuk University Faculty of Sports Science (26.01.2022–20).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.