A comparison between athlete and non-athlete students stressors and their relationships with their mental health

Introduction

University students are the transitional stage from adolescence to adulthood[1]. During this period, university issues and psychological problems among students appear to have been overlooked to a large extent[2,3].  The purpose of this study was to compare the athlete and non - athlete students’ stressors and their relationships with their mental health.

Methods

273 male and female athletes and 147 male and female non - athletes by staged random sampling were selected as samples of this study. Two scales, the student’s stressors questionnaire (SSQ) and symptom checklist - 25(SCL-25) were used to test the proposed hypothesis. The reliability and validity of these two instruments are reported to be significant in various studies.

Results

Testing the proposed hypothesis at the P<.05 showed the following results:  No significant difference was reported between female and male athlete and non-athlete students in their responses to the stressors. Significant differences were reported between athletes and non-athletes in their responses to dormitory stressors. The comparison between male athlete and non-athletes stressors and their mental health did not show a significant difference at P<.05. There was a positive and significant   relationship between female and male athlete stressors with their mental healtht. This relationship was also significant for male non-athletes, but was not significant for female non-athlete. A multi-comparison between stressors and mental health showed that two factors (academic setting and living in dormitory) were considered to be better predictors of men athletes’ mental health. But factors like graduation and living in dormitory were better predictors of women athletes’ mental health.

Discussion/ Conclusions

Based on the results of this study it is therefore recommended that higher education institutions prepare suitable conditions in which students can advance their knowledge and undestanding and be able to live in such dormitories where they are able to reduce their mental stressors and increase their mental health.

References

1. Anshel, M.H. and Gregory, w. L. (1993). . Journal of Sport Behavior, 13(4): 194-218.
   
2. Barnes, M.W. (2000) Stress of college students http://users.row man.edu /~mani 1088/street paper.doc.
   
3. Misra. (2000).Stress of College Students.http://users.row man.edu/~mani 1088/stress paper.doc.