Gymnastik- och idrottshögskolan, GIH

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Psychological Flexibility Skills and Mental Wellbeing in Athletes: An Exploration of Associations and Gender Differences
Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland; Finnish Institute of High Performance Sport KIHU, Jyväskylä, Finland.ORCID iD: 0009-0007-4095-1483
Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-3872-9660
Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences, GIH, Department of Physiology, Nutrition and Biomechanics.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-9921-6586
Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland; Finnish Institute of High Performance Sport KIHU, Jyväskylä, Finland 5Finnish Institute of High Performance S.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-9428-4689
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2024 (English)In: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, ISSN 2328-7837, E-ISSN 2328-7845, Vol. 13, no 2, p. 43-55Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Psychological flexibility skills (PFS) have shown to be an important aspect of wellbeing among the general population, however, there is a gap in research exploring flexibility skills among athletes. The present study examined the effects of PFS on young athletes’ (n = 106, M = 19.9) psychological wellbeing, symptomatology, and gender differences. Data was investigated using correlations and linear regression analyses. Higher PFS was associated with subjective wellbeing, recovery experiences, self-esteem, and lower levels of perceived stress, and depression symptoms (r = 0.30-0.53). Among the PFS, value-based actions acted as the strongest predictor for mental wellbeing and symptoms. In addition, avoidance of distressing thoughts and emotions related to sport was a significant predictor for self-esteem, symptoms of stress and depression but not for subjective wellbeing and recovery experience. Also, our results highlighted gender disparities, with female athletes reporting higher stress and depressive symptoms, while males exhibited better mental wellbeing, psychological recovery, self-esteem, and higher psychological flexibility skills. Overall, engagement in value-based actions may enhance athletes’ mental wellbeing. Further, it might be important to pay attention to individual differences related to gender both when assessing psychological flexibility skills and when applying interventions aimed at enhancing mental wellbeing among athletes.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Science Publishing group , 2024. Vol. 13, no 2, p. 43-55
Keywords [en]
Psychological Flexibility, ACT, Athletes, Mental Wellbeing, Gender
National Category
Sport and Fitness Sciences Applied Psychology
Research subject
Social Sciences/Humanities
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:gih:diva-8287DOI: 10.11648/j.pbs.20241302.14OAI: oai:DiVA.org:gih-8287DiVA, id: diva2:1870496
Available from: 2024-06-14 Created: 2024-06-14 Last updated: 2025-02-11

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Kenttä, Göran

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Ronkainen, HannaleenaLundgren, TobiasKenttä, GöranIhalainen, JohannaValtonen, MaaritLappalainen, Raimo
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