From passion to abyss: the mental health of athletes during COVID-19 lockdown

• Liliana Pitacho ; Patrícia Jardim da Palma ^[1] ; Pedro Correia ^[2] ; João Pedro Cordeiro
  1. [1] Universidade de Lisboa

     Universidade de Lisboa

     Socorro, Portugal

     
  2. [2] Universidade de Coimbra

     Universidade de Coimbra

     Coimbra (Sé Nova), Portugal

     
• Localización: EJIHPE: European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, ISSN 2174-8144, ISSN-e 2254-9625, Vol. 13, Nº. 3, 2023, págs. 613-625
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
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• Resumen

  • The outbreak and pandemic of COVID-19 forced people into extreme isolation and social distancing, with significant limitations on various activity sectors, including sports. This study aimed to assess the psychological health status of athletes during sports lockdown. Additionally, we intend to verify the mediating role of sleep disorders in stress perception and subjective happiness. Our sample was composed of 1492 Portuguese athletes from eight different team sports. During sports lockdown, athletes were found to have high stress levels and low subjective happiness levels and experience sleep disorders. Finally, these results conclude that sports lockdowns harm athletes’ psychological health and well-being. Pay cuts to athletes are an extra stress factor that exacerbate these adverse effects on psychological health. Finally, sleep is a mediator variable between stress perception and subjective happiness levels. This study’s significant contributions, limitations, and future directions are discussed in the conclusion.