An Investigation of Perceived Stress and Depressive Symptoms in Division I Student-athletes

CONTEXT: Stress and depression, affecting many collegiate student-athletes, have been linked to a variety of characteristics and may affect injury rates and post-injury outcomes. OBJECTIVE: The first purpose of this study was to explore the levels of stress and depressive symptoms among Division I athletes. The second purpose was to determine differences in stress and depressive symptoms based on year in school, gender, past concussion history, and sport. The final purpose was to examine the association between stress and depressive symptoms among Division I student-athletes. DESIGN: Quasi-Experimental SETTING: NCAA Division I collegiate athletics. PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred and fifty-five (female n=59 male n=196) Division I collegiate student-athletes (age 18-27) in football, wrestling, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, women’s softball, and baseball. INTERVENTION(S): Participants completed the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and Perceived Stress Scale 14 (PSS-14) at the beginning of their respective sport seasons. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Levels of perceived stress and depressive symptoms, differences in stress and depressive symptoms based on year in school, gender, concussion history, and sport, and the association between stress and depressive symptoms were examined. RESULTS: Of the 255 participants, 17.7% reported at-risk depressive symptoms. Over half of the participants reported moderate to high levels of stress. Participants with a history of concussion reported significantly higher depressive symptom scores (+2.06, p=.04, 95% CI = 8.37, 11.60) than participants with no history. Perceived stress and depressive symptoms were significantly correlated (r = 0.68, pCONCLUSIONS: Collegiate student-athletes experience depressive symptoms and stress. Sports medicine practitioners should be cognizant that student-athletes with a history of concussion may be particularly at risk for depression. Although causation remains unclear, the association between stress and depressive symptoms is significant and should be considered when reviewing injury risk or post-injury outcomes