On February 14th, students and staff gathered to hear the song “Surviving or Just Thriving?” Post-Pandemic Student-Athlete Health and Wellness,” presented by Lydia Bell, director of research and policy at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). During her presentation, Bell talked about data from the NCAA’s Substance Use and Mental Health Survey.
Lydia Bell (Photo by Cat Cutillo)
Bell explained that the NCAA sent a national survey to each school’s Faculty Athletic Representative (FAR), who then administered the survey to several teams pre-selected by the NCAA. This survey was an anonymous, voluntary paper-and-pencil survey. Across NCAA divisions he had 23,000 participants, approximately 6,000 of whom came from Division II. The data Bell presented was specific to Division II schools during the 2022-2023 school year.
Bell covered substance use for the first time.
“Alcohol consumption among student-athletes continues to decline,” Bell said. “This is the lowest alcohol use figure we’ve seen.”
One substance that is on the rise is the use of electronic cigarettes and e-cigarettes. This increase may be due to the age of the students who responded to the survey. Bell explained that when these athletes were in high school, vaping was very common. Bell is interested to see if this trend begins to wane as more regulations are introduced.
Bell then moved into the field of mental health. The survey asked about feelings of mental exhaustion, feeling overwhelmed, and whether the student-athletes experienced sleep problems.
“They reported feeling these mental health concerns constantly or almost daily,” Bell said. This number was higher not only for women but also for members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
“Part of the work we try to do in our research is to think about all the different components of an athlete’s identity, such as racial identity, socioeconomic status, gender identity, sexual orientation, and to It’s really thinking about how the elements work,’ which in itself impacts their mental health,” Bell explained.
Lydia Bell (Photo by Cat Cutillo)
When asked what was deteriorating their mental health, most answers had nothing to do with athletics. The biggest cause of anxiety was anxiety about schoolwork, followed by economic anxiety and anxiety about the future.
The majority of student-athletes said they felt their coach cared about their mental health, but 54% of men and 3% of women said they felt comfortable talking to their coach about mental health issues. Only 1 minute. While this may be due to stigma, Bell explained that students may also be reluctant to talk about mental health with coaches because of the abundance of resources on campus.
The survey also addressed whether student-athletes feel they are getting enough rest. Many college students, not just athletes, have trouble sleeping. According to an NCAA survey, about 50% of athletes say they wake up well-rested less than three days a week. Only 14% of women felt they got enough rest most days of the week. In addition to athletic performance, Bell emphasized the importance of sleep in general.
“Sleep is an amazing performance-enhancing drug that is free and legal,” Bell said.
The NCAA found that athletes who specialize in a sport by the age of 12 are more likely to experience physical and mental burnout than those who don’t. Additionally, athletes who suffered one or more major injuries prior to college that required surgery or hospitalization or were out of competition for at least a month were more likely to face major injuries in college.
Lydia Bell (Photo by Cat Cutillo)
Another major focus of the study was weight and body image. Survey data showed that most participants felt that they were at the appropriate weight for their sport. However, men were more likely to say they were underweight, while women were more likely to say they were overweight.
Two thirds said they felt they were at a ‘sporting weight’, while over 40% of men said they were trying to gain weight and over 40% of women said they were trying to lose weight. I replied that I was trying to do so.
“Obviously it’s not the sport that’s driving their body perception; there may be other external factors,” Bell explained.
All data presented by Bell is publicly available and can be found here.
