Journal Article Ahead of print
PubMed: 42546363 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2026.107554
Associations between lifestyle patterns during COVID-19 pandemic and mental health in athletes from 14 countries. An analysis by sex and sport level.
Acta Psychol (Amst) 269:107554
Authors: Morteza Taheri, Luis Felipe Reynoso-Sánchez, Khadijeh Irandoust, Mahdi Ashouri, Gholamreza Zoormand, Marjan Sadat Rezaei, Hussein Muñoz-Helú, Rodrigo Luiz Vancini, Özgür Eken, Manuel Octavio López-Camacho, Ratko Pavlović, Amairani Molgado-Sifuentes, Diana Korinna Zazueta-Beltrán, Karla Noelia Cruz-Morales, Roxana Abril Morales-Beltrán, Sylvia Adriana Estrada-Díaz, Erick Yael Fernández-Barradas, Helmi Ben Saad, Ismail Dergaa, Hassane Zouhal, Hamdi Chtourou, Nicola Luigi Bragazzi, Katja Weiss, Thomas Rosemann, Beat Knechtle
Affiliations
- Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences in Sports, Faculty of Sport Science and Health, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
- Research Centre for Physical Culture and Health Sciences, Autonomous University of Occident, Culiacán, Mexico.
- Department of Sport Sciences, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran.
- Department of Sports Physiology, University of Mazandran, Babolsar, Iran.
- Department of Physical Education and Sport Science, Huanggang Normal University, Huanggang, China.
- Department of Sport Sciences, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran.
- Department of Economic-Administrative Sciences, Autonomous University of Occident, Los Mochis, Mexico.
- Center for Physical Education and Sports, Federal University of Espírito Santo, Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil.
- Department of Physical Education and Sport Teaching, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Inonu University, Malatya, Turkiye.
- Department of Social Sciences and Humanities, Autonomous University of Occident, Guasave, Mexico.
- Department for Sports and Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, University of East Sarajevo, East Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- Research Centre for Physical Culture and Health Sciences, Autonomous University of Occident, Culiacán, Mexico.
- Department of Social Sciences and Humanities, Autonomous University of Occident, Los Mochis, Mexico.
- Department of Social Sciences and Humanities, Autonomous University of Occident, Los Mochis, Mexico.
- Department of Social Sciences and Humanities, Autonomous University of Occident, Los Mochis, Mexico.
- Research Centre for Physical Culture and Health Sciences, Autonomous University of Occident, Culiacán, Mexico.
- University Center of the South, University of Guadalajara, Ciudad Guzman, Mexico.
- Faculty of Medicine, Research Laboratory "Heart Failure, LR12SP09", Farhat HACHED Hospital, University of Sousse, Sousse, Tunisia.
- Primary Health Care Corporation, Doha, Qatar; Research Unit Physical Activity, Sport, and Health, (UR18JS01), National Observatory of Sport, Tunis, Tunisia; High Institute of Sport and Physical Education, University of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia.
- Univ Rennes, M2S (Laboratoire Mouvement, Sport, Santé) - EA 1274, Rennes, France; Institute International des Sciences du Sport, Irodouer, France.
- Research Unit Physical Activity, Sport, and Health, (UR18JS01), National Observatory of Sport, Tunis, Tunisia; High Institute of Sport and Physical Education, University of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia.
- Human Nutrition Unit, Department of Food and Drugs, Medical School, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
- Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
- Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
- Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
This study examined the association of sleep quality, eating behaviors, physical activity (PA), and financial security with mental health among elite and amateur male and female athletes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
METHOD
A total of 1385 athletes (41.2% women) from 14 countries participated in this global cross-sectional study, with 40.3% identified as elite athletes and 59.7% as amateur athletes. Data on perceived mental health, sleep quality, PA, eating behaviors, and financial security were gathered through an online survey conducted during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Multiple linear regression analysis assessed the association of these variables with depression, anxiety, stress, and global psychological distress across sex and competitive levels.
RESULTS
Poorer sleep quality was the most consistent correlate of higher mental health symptom scores across the regression models, although is association was not uniform across all outcoms and subgroups, PA showed a more variable pattern. In the total sample, higher PA was associated with lower depression, anxiety, stress and global distress scores in both women and men. PA was not significantly associated with mental health outcomes among elite women and was only associated with stress among elite men. PA was associated with global distress and anxiety in amateur women, as well as with global distress, depression and stress in amateur men, but not with all outcomes. Eating behaviors showed less consistent associations, emerging mainly among men in the total sample and between amateur men for specific outcomes. Financial security was associated with lower symptom scores in the total sample for both women and men, but subgroup analyses showed a more differentiated pattern, with more consistent associations among elite women and more limited associations among elite men and amateur athletes.
CONCLUSION
During the COVID-19 pandemic, athletes' mental health symptoms were associated with several behavioral and contextual factors, particularly sleep quality, while PA, eating behaviors, and financial security showed more subgroup-specific patterns.
MeSH
Depression, Life Style, Psychology, Eating, Sleep, Stress, Physiological, Feeding Behavior, Covid-19, Sex, Pandemics, Athletes, Mental Health, Sports