What Lies Beneath: Exploring Different Depressive Symptoms Across Selected Risk Factors in Icelandic Team Sport Athletes

Abstract

The aim of the study was to explore the prevalence of specific symptoms of depression in athletes and to test differences in the likelihood of athletes exhibiting these symptoms across age, sex, type of team sport, and level of competition. A sample of Icelandic male and female team sport athletes (N = 894, 18–42 years) was included in the study. Of the athletes exhibiting clinically significant depressive symptoms on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, 37.5% did not exhibit core symptoms of depression. Compared with males, females were significantly more likely to exhibit depressed mood, feelings of worthlessness/guilt, and problems with sleep, fatigue, appetite, and concentration. Within males, differences were mostly related to neurovegetative aspects of depression (sleep and appetite), whereas in females, differences were related to cognitive/emotional aspects (e.g., depressed mood, guilt/worthlessness). The findings underline the importance of exploring specific symptoms of depression to provide a richer understanding of depressive symptomology in athletes.

What is the Prevalence of General Anxiety Disorder and Depression Symptoms in Semi-elite Australian Football Players: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Sex differences are observed in the prevalence of depression at both the general population and athlete level [ 26 ], with females being more likely to report depressive symptoms than males. Our findings were consistent with existing research in other sports [ 4 , 27 ], whereby the prevalence of depression in WAFL-W players (57.1%) was almost three times greater than in WAFL-M (19.8%) players, with one study of Australian elite soccer players and another in Icelandic athletes (football, handball and basketball) indicating women were almost twice as likely to experience moderate to severe depression symptoms than men [ 4 , 27 ]. It is important to note that these findings need to be interpreted with caution due to the low number of women within our study.…”

“…The prevalence of depression symptoms in our WAFL-W players was also substantially higher (57.1%) than Australian women with diagnosed affective disorders (16–24 years = 19.0%) [ 2 ], a previous study of Australian elite women’s soccer players (10.6%) [ 4 ] and Icelandic women athletes (12.2%) [ 27 ]. However, as with other areas of sports and exercise medicine, women remain substantially under-represented in research [ 10 ].…”

Mental Health Profiles of Danish Youth Soccer Players: The Influence of Gender and Career Development

“…Male first league players had significantly lower average depression scores than male U-21 and female players; whereas, other studies found that younger athletes had lower stress levels and higher well-being than older athletes (e.g., Belz et al, 2018). A study with Icelandic team-sport athletes suggested that although female athletes may be more likely than males to experience moderate levels of depressive symptoms, the rates of more severe symptomology may be comparable between the sexes (Tahtinen, Kristjansdottir, Olason, & Morris, 2021). Prinz, Dvorak, and Junge (2016) found that average depression scores differed significantly between playing positions and levels of play in the German league, and conflicts with management contributed additionally to higher scores.…”