“We All Go Through It”: Media Depictions of Mental Illness Disclosures From Star Athletes DeMar DeRozan and Kevin Love

While public discussion about mental illness has become increasingly common in the United States, previous research has found that having a mental illness diagnosis is assumed to be incompatible with elite athletic success. As explored in hegemonic masculinity scholarship, to be successful, professional male athletes attempt to physically dominate opponents. In 2018, National Basketball Association (NBA) star Kevin Love disclosed having a panic attack during a game as well as living with depression and anxiety. While Love was not the only NBA player to publicly come forward to discuss their mental health experiences, Love is a successful White player in a league where 73.9% of players self-identify as Black or African American. His social location connects his public health discussion to existing scholarship on whiteness, hegemonic masculinity, and mental illness. Love was praised for his willingness to speak about his personal experiences and provide support for others. However, through a critical discourse analysis of sports media coverage of Love’s disclosure and subsequent mental health advocacy, this study reveals that his public discussion was constructed in terms of his identity as a White athlete and constrained by expectations of hegemonic masculinity.

Section: Studying Mental Health Discoursementioning

confidence: 67%

The Face of Mental Health: Kevin Love and Hegemonic Masculinity in the NBA

Lavelle

2020

“…In recent examinations, research has focused on the media coverage surrounding professional athletes and their public disclosures of mental health concerns. Parrott et al (2019) conducted a content analysis of media coverage surrounding NBA players DeMar DeRozan, Kevin Love, and their public discussion of mental health during the 2017–2018 NBA season. Their findings indicated that news stories framed the athletes as possessing character strength for their disclosures.…”

Section: Review Of Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, White’s and DeRozan’s public discourse on mental health is an opportunity to examine how mental health is discussed within the United States and an opportunity to analyze the coverage of NBA players. While prior research has compared media coverage of NBA players and their mental health (Parrott et al, 2019), there is yet to be an examination into how two African American athletes are covered in regard to their mental health. This is an important area of examination because prior research has established that the African American population in the United States perceives mental health differently than the White population (Anglin et al, 2008).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, both White and DeRozan received very different reactions to their mental health issues. As outlined by Parrott et al (2019), social cognitive theory (Bandura, 2001) explains that we look to media for modeling behavior. An African American male with a mental health concern may look to White and DeRozan as role models and therefore be more or less willing to disclose their mental health concerns based on the reaction that those athletes received to theirs’.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Royce White, DeMar DeRozan and Media Framing of Mental Health in the NBA

Cassilo

2020

This study analyzed media framing of two players from the National Basketball Association (NBA), Royce White and DeMar DeRozan, who both publicly addressed their mental health concerns within the last decade. Due to societal stigmas, such a public conversation was once a rarity in the NBA, making their discussion of mental health a worthy area of examination. A media framing analysis of 58 press articles for White and 42 articles for DeRozan revealed six frames for each athlete used to discuss their situation. Despite both being African American athletes playing the same sport, they were covered differently. Analysis discovered that frames for White, a first-year player who wanted changes in the system of how the NBA handled mental health, most commonly focused on him and his specific situation, while frames for DeRozan, an NBA All-Star who positioned himself solely as an advocate, most frequently discussed shedding the stigma of mental health and the increased awareness surrounding the topic. Additionally, while there were frames critical of White, there were no such frames for DeRozan. Still, for both players, this type of coverage humanizes the experience of mental health and leads to important insights about changes in masculinity among athletes.

“…Two dominant frames were identified, leveraging of socio-political capital to regulate the sport and protect society from itself and the framing of public officials as protectors of social citizenry. Finally, recent media framing of mental health issues in sport has been shown to be supportive of athletes, challenging inaccurate assumptions concerning mental illness and calling for greater support for athletes who experience mental illness (Parrott et al, 2019).…”

Section: Media Framing Of Concussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Duty of Karius: Media Framing of Concussion Following the 2018 UEFA Champions League Final

Parry

Humphries

et al. 2020

Concussion is a growing issue within sport, including within soccer. Despite the developing medical understanding of concussion, there is still an array of sociocultural discourses and misconceptions around it. In the 2018 UEFA Champions League Final, Liverpool Football Club goalkeeper Loris Karius suffered a head collision in the 48th minute. Postmatch, he was subsequently diagnosed as being concussed. As a result of his concussion, Karius’ performance was arguably impeded, with suggestions that this may have resulted in him making some key errors in the game. Through an analysis of media framing in 52 news articles in the days following the incident, four dominant frames were identified: deflection away from concussion, misunderstanding concussion, education on concussion, and recommendations. Frames that focussed on the lack of awareness and preventative measures that are present in soccer served to highlight the lack of significance afforded to concussion at this particular point in time. In particular, we highlight differences in concussion discourses between those working inside and outside the soccer industry. Overall, these findings contribute to the growing body of sociological work examining concussion in sport.