Examining Postinjury Depression among Competitive Collegiate Athletes in Malaysia

Ng, Marcus Ming En (2022) Examining Postinjury Depression among Competitive Collegiate Athletes in Malaysia. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

Text Marcus Ng Ming En_Full Text.pdf Restricted to Registered users only Download (935kB)

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the postinjury depression among competitive collegiate athletes in Malaysia and to examine the relationship between postinjury and depression. Online survey was conducted to assess sport injury and depression among university undergraduates. Self-report depression status was measured using a 20-item Center of Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D). While injuries sustained in training and competition for the past 12 months were measured in terms of most recent injury, injury location, types of injury, severity of injury, treatment of injury, duration of treatment, and duration of returning to sports. A total of 161 athletes between the ages of 18 and 24 years participated in the sport injury and depression survey. Most athletes were males (61%) and they were involved in individual sport (n=6), team sport (n=91), mixed sport (n=51), and martial art (n=13). The sample revealed that almost 50% of athletes sustained skin and ligament injuries. Almost 65% of the injuries was mild with 13% sustained severe injury. Analysis of depression showed that 46% of athletes suffered from depression with 25% in the Mild/Moderate, and 17% in the Moderate/Severe. Among athletes who were depressed due to injury, older athletes suffered more depression than younger athletes while those sustained muscle and ligament injuries was more depressed. In addition, depression was found to have significant low correlation to degree of injury. Future research should include more subjects and subjects younger than 18 years old. The objective of the study was to determine whether 1) the proportion of athletes with mental health diagnoses and 2) athlete motivations for playing differ between team sports and individual sports. We conducted a cross-sectional study of child and adolescent athletes assessed at a sports injury prevention center. We compared self-reported anxiety, depression, and reasons for participating in sports between athletes in individual sports (e.g. gymnastics, running, diving) and team sports (e.g. soccer, football, hockey). In addition, we categorized motivation for participating in sports as 1) for fun, with associated benefits of participation including, motives such as making friends and being part of a team or 2) for goal-oriented reasons with associated benefits of participation including motives such as obtaining scholarship or controlling weight. At the time of this analysis, 756 athletes between the ages of 6 and 18 years had undergone a sports injury prevention evaluation. Most athletes were White (85%) and there was a slight female predominance (56%). Of the total population, 8% reported suffering from anxiety or depression. A higher proportion of individual sport athletes reported anxiety or depression than team sport athletes (13% vs. 7%, p < 0.01). Individual sport athletes were more likely than athletes in team sports to play their sports for goal-oriented reasons, as opposed to for fun (30% vs. 21%, p < 0.05). Individual sport athletes are more likely to report anxiety and depression than team sport athletes. The mental health benefits of participation in organized sports may vary between individual sport athletes and those playing team sports