Psychological Rest in Student-Athletes: Relationships Between Sport Demands, Mental Rest, Depressive Symptoms, and Well-Being

• Published in: Journal for Advancing Sport Psychology in Research 2023-06, Vol.3 (1), p.31-45
• Main Authors: Caviedes, Gabriela I., Eklund, Robert C, Yang, Yanyun, Eccles, David W.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2770-8306; 2770-8306
• DOI: 10.55743/000019

The purpose of this study was to explore how sport demands and psychological aspects of rest are related to depressive symptoms and well-being among female college athletes. Eccles and Kazmier (2019) proposed that physical and psychological (i.e., cognitive and emotional) demands of sport negatively affect perceptions of being mentally rested, which in turn reduce well-being and elicit depressive symptoms. They also proposed that engaging in resting experiences buffers negative effects of sport demands on perceptions of being mentally rested. These model predictions were tested in this study. Female athletes (N = 179) in NCAA Division I sports provided online responses to the Demand-Induced Strain Compensation Questionnaire for Sport (Balk et al., 2018), Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (Radloff, 1977), and Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (Keyes et al., 2008). They also completed measures of perceptions of recent resting experiences and perceived current level of mental rest that were developed for this study. Results showed that emotional demands but not physical or cognitive demands, significantly predicted current level of mental rest. Also, recent resting experiences significantly predicted current level of mental rest but did not significantly moderate the relationship between sport demands and current level of mental rest. Finally, athletes who reported a lower current level of mental rest experienced a lower level of well-being and more depressive symptoms. Monitoring of emotional demands and engaging in key psychological resting experiences might be useful for athletes as they attempt to obtain adequate mental rest and stay healthy mentally.