Relationships among sports helplessness, depression, and social support in American college student-athletes

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between social support and mental health problems among male and female intercollegiate student-athletes. Participants were 204 American student-athletes (105 males, 99 females) recruited from the NCAA colleges and universities. Participants were 20.24 (SD = ±1.24) years old, and had a mean of 12.94 (SD = ±4.27) years of experience in sports. Results indicated that for female student-athletes, social support provided to and received from teammates were negatively correlated with both depression and sports helplessness, but for male student-athletes, no significant relationships were found. The results suggest that the relationship between teammate social support and mental health problems in intercollegiate student-athletes is gender-specific.