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Individual athletes more likely to experience depression than those in team sports

Individual athletes more likely to experience depression than those in team sports

New European research suggests that athletes who take part in individual sports are more likely to develop symptoms of depression than those who take part in team sports.

Carried out by researchers from the Technical University of Munich, the team surveyed 162 elite and 199 junior elite athletes in two cross-sectional studies and 85 junior athletes in a third, longitudinal study.

A qualitative study was also carried out to complement the three studies, in which 134 elite athletes were interviewed about perceived causes of their experienced stress, their depressive symptoms and any intentions to drop out of the sport.

The results of the two cross-sectional studies showed that although sport-specific stress combined with insufficient time for recovery was associated with symptoms of depression, athletes who participated in individual sports showed significantly higher scores for depressive symptoms than athletes who participated in team sports.

Other reasons for depression included burnout and a lack of time to recover from stress.

Professor Juergen Beckmann, who carried out the study, also commented that, "Our research suggests that depression is particularly high in young athletes, with athletes in individual sports being more vulnerable."

"In Germany, we have developed a burnout and screening instrument for junior athletes and a website to give them advice on coping with stress and other psychological problems they may experience," he added.

The findings of the study were to be presented Monday, December 12 at the British Psychological Society's Division of Sport and Exercise Psychology annual conference in Cardiff, UK.

A large body of research supports sports and exercise as a means of managing and reducing depression, however research has also suggested that social contact is also a key factor in reducing depression, something that could possibly be boosted by taking part in team rather than individual sports.