The Social Effects of Mental Ill-Health Stigma in Sport

Athletes experience mental ill-health at prevalence rates similar to the general population but are reluctant to discuss or seek help for mental ill-health due to stigma, which can impact their status, playing time, or spot on the team. Researchers have alluded to social sequelae of mental ill-health stigma in sport (e.g., ostracization, reduced social opportunities), but these outcomes have not been explicitly explored. Therefore, we qualitatively explored athletes' experiences of mental ill-health and their perceptions of the impact of stigma on their social relationships. Participants read a priming vignette before engaging in semistructured interviews. We interviewed 12 retired university and college student-athletes within 5 years of retirement who had experienced mental ill-health during their intercollegiate athletic career. Employing reflexive thematic analysis, we developed two themes portraying participants' described experiences: (1) Relational Drawbacks to Protecting Oneself From Stigmatization, detailing negative impacts of mental ill-health stigma on participants' relationships, and (2) Growth Through Stigmatized Experiences, highlighting the positive outcomes participants derived from their experiences. Through these themes, we found that participants utilized maladaptive coping strategies when fearing stigmatization, which led to the negative social sequelae they experienced. We also found that socially supportive and destigmatized interactions helped participants form deep, meaningful relationships that lasted beyond their student-athlete careers and provided a sense of well-being. We suggest that fostering socially supportive sport environments represents a promising path to destigmatization that can increase athlete well-being. We detail recommendations for future research avenues and interventions that may be beneficial in creating socially supportive sport environments.