Predictors of perceptions of mental illness and averseness to help: a survey of elite football players

Abstract

Background: Hypermasculinity may impact elite football players’ willingness to seek help for mental health problems.

Aims: This quantitative study sought to identify what set of characteristics, including hypermasculinity, best predicts elite football players’ mental health attitudes.

Method: The Attitude Scale for Mental Illness, Inventory of Attitudes toward Seeking Mental Health Services, and Athlete’s Perception of Masculinity Scale were self-administered to 112 football players from the NFLPA and the Washington, DC metro area.

Results: Canonical correlation analysis was used to develop a regression model that best predicts elite football players’ mental health attitudes. This study found that though the athletes have high levels of hypermasculinity (x = 19.66, SD = 7.43), other factors, including marital status and sport level lessen the effects of hypermasculinity and facilitate positive perceptions of mental illness and receptivity to help.

Conclusions: Predictors suggest that therapeutic efforts targeted toward family and support networks, as well as intervention strategies for decreasing mental illness stigma are essential to encourage positive mental health attitudes in elite football players.

Keywords:

• mental health
• elite athletes
• hypermasculinity

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to the NFLPA and her dissertation committee - Soleman Abu-Bader (advisor), Cudore Snell (chair), Andridia Mapson, Wade Boykin, and Emmett Gill - for their contribution to this work.

Declaration of interest

The author reports no conflicts of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content and writing of the article.