IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socpsy/v63y2017i7p598-601.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Athletic identity and psychiatric symptoms following retirement from varsity sports

Author

Listed:
  • Zarina A Giannone
  • Colleen J Haney
  • David Kealy
  • John S Ogrodniczuk

Abstract

Background: Despite evidence identifying adjustment difficulties among retiring athletes, research investigating factors that contribute to post-retirement complications is limited. Athletic identity may be an important determinant of adverse adaptation to sport retirement. Aims: The purpose of this study was to address the influence of athletic identity on post-retirement depression and anxiety symptoms among varsity athletes. Method: An anonymous, online survey regarding athletic identity and psychiatric symptoms was completed by 72 self-identified varsity athletes during their final season of competition and 3 months after retiring from sport. Results: After controlling for the effects of pre-retirement anxiety symptoms, endorsement of an athletic identity significantly predicted anxiety symptoms in the post-retirement period. A similar, but non-significant, pattern was observed for depressive symptoms. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that athletes’ degree of athletic identity may be a risk factor for the emergence of psychiatric distress in the months following their retirement from sport. Identity-focused screening or intervention during athletes’ sport careers could potentially mitigate some of the psychological difficulties associated with sport retirement.

Suggested Citation

  • Zarina A Giannone & Colleen J Haney & David Kealy & John S Ogrodniczuk, 2017. "Athletic identity and psychiatric symptoms following retirement from varsity sports," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 63(7), pages 598-601, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:63:y:2017:i:7:p:598-601
    DOI: 10.1177/0020764017724184
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0020764017724184
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0020764017724184?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:63:y:2017:i:7:p:598-601. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.