At all levels of sport, athletes put their bodies under intense physical and mental stress. In sport, stress can be a catalyst for improved performance and is the body's natural response to challenges, eliciting emotional, behavioral, and somatic responses.
If we use sport as our frame of reference, in line with this definition, we can see how athletes must face and use stress to excel.
By directly confronting challenges and exertion, whether taking on an opponent on the basketball court or aiming for a new personal best in the pool, elite athletes use stress as a tool for development. In the pursuit of better performance, stress can be a prerequisite for success.
While stress can be a useful tool, it can also be damaging.
If not managed properly, it can lead to chronic outcomes resulting in negative feelings of anxiety and depression, impeding performance and life.
This article examines how high school athletes manage stress, drawing on recent research to assess its influence.
Overview
Research Paper Name: Prevalence of stress amongst high school athletes
Author(s): Tavish Ward, Thor Stead, Rohan Mangal, Latha Ganti
Publication Date: February, 2023
Summary: 91% of high school students experience stress in sports, with 27% wanting professional help. 18% of students did not see the benefits of using a medical professional to aid them in stress management. Consequently, more needs to be done to provide and train athletes with stress-management tools within a professional setting.
The Study
A paper titled "Prevalence of stress amongst high school athletes" analyzed the impact and severity of stress among high school athletes participating in sports. The research studied 200 students aged 16 and 17 across sporting disciplines, assessing how athletes deal with stress and its relationship with sport. The research used an anonymous survey as its primary method in the assessment.
The Results
According to the study, approximately 91% of high school students experience stress related to sports. At face value, these statistics highlight the broad-reaching impact of stress in sports, as almost a given in participation, indicating that it often involves considerable psychological pressure.
Surveying 200 high school athletes aged 16-17 across both genders and a multitude of sports, the study found that 58% of these students experienced chronic to moderate stress levels due to sport, with higher levels of stress resulting in impaired performance. Among students surveyed, a quarter reported that stress negatively impacted sporting outcomes.
Evidently, these statistics indicate a correlation between sports and negative stress. However, correlation does not mean causation. Assuming that sports alone were the cause of moderate-to-severe stress in half of the students surveyed would be inaccurate.
In statistics, even if sports (X) and stress (Y) seem closely linked, another factor—like stress management (Z)—can affect them both. In this study, stress management plays a crucial role in whether playing sports causes harmful stress and poor performance.
According to the research, 43% of students found exercise to be an effective way to manage stress, while 23% found talking to someone about their problems to be the best method of stress relief. From this, we can draw two important deductions.
Firstly, exercise derived from sport can positively affect stress, suggesting that sport, at its core, is not a cause of chronic stress (as previously noted). Secondly, the study's students managed stress by talking to others, not professionals, but through informal means such as friends and family.
Why This Matters:
Simply put, the study found that even under high pressure, athletes had a limited desire to seek medical help due to mental health stigmas. And when they did, they were unsure how to access professional help. The result? Poor management of stress through informal means.
While friends, family, and other casual sources can be useful for offloading stress, they are not professionals and lack the expertise to manage stress from a therapeutic standpoint. If we return to the idea of the ‘Z factor,’ poor management of stress, as a variable (through informal means), may be significant in high levels of stress among high school athletes.
Consequently, athletes need to be provided with and trained in stress-management tools within a professional setting.
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