Editorial: Wellbeing and quality of life in elite sports : Towards evidence-based approaches for psychological health promotion and proactive support

Contemporary research reports several interrelated risk-factors for athlete mental health within elite sports-systems (Purcell et al., 2019). Risk-factors include, for example,organizational stressors, stigma related to mental health problems, normalization of unhealthy behaviors, injuries, career dissatisfaction, harassment and abuse, and toxic sports leadership or other dysfunctional relationships (e.g., Mountjoy et al., 2016;Reardon et al., 2019; Kuettel and Larsen, 2020). Increased commercialization and professionalization, together with stakeholders and media, place further demands and obligations on athletes (Timpka et al., 2008). Most sport-specific risk factors for mental health in elite sports environments are known to be modifiable, and the collection of studies published in recent years pointsto the need for researchers to study support systems for mental health promotion and prevention. Such efforts should focus on proactive support increasing athlete wellbeing and resiliency in response to both expected and naturally occurring stressors in the environment and support the development of targeted prevention and treatments when mental wellbeing or mental disorders are suspected (e.g., Purcell et al., 2019; Lundqvist et al., 2022). This Research Topic includes an important collection of articles spanning authors from several continents with contributions targeting mental health from a variety of conceptual and theoretical perspectives. Several articles have a direct application for researchers and practitioners working with mental health support in various elite athlete populations and cultures