Facilitating dual careers by improving resistance to chronic stress: effects of an intervention programme for elite student athletes

Abstract

The starting point of this contribution is the potential risk to health and performance from the combination of elite sporting careers with the pursuit of education. In European sport science and politics, structural measures to promote dual careers in elite sports have been discussed increasingly of late. In addition to organisational measures, there are calls for educational-psychological intervention programmes supporting the successful management of dual careers at the individual level. This paper presents an appropriate intervention programme and its evaluation: stress-resistance training for elite athletes (SRT-EA). It comprises 10 units, each lasting 90 minutes. It is intended for athletes and aims to improve their resistance to chronic stress. The evaluation was carried out in a quasi-experimental design, with three points of measurement (baseline, immediately after, and three months after) and two non-randomised groups: an intervention group (n = 128) and an untreated control group (n = 117). Participants were between 13 and 20 years of age (53.5% male) and represented various Olympic sports. Outcome variables were assessed with questionnaires. Significant short- and mid-term intervention effects were explored. The intervention increased stress-related knowledge, general self-efficacy, and stress sensitivity. Chronic stress level, stress symptoms, and stress reactivity were reduced. In line with the intention of the intervention, the results showed short- and mid-term, small to medium-sized effects. Accordingly, separate measurements at the end of the intervention and three months later showed mostly positive subjective experiences. Thus, the results reinforce the hope that educational-psychological stress-management interventions can support dual careers.

Where Did All the Sport Go? Negative Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Life-Spheres and Mental Health of Spanish Young Athletes

“…Research in this line suggested that individuals with higher academic level usually report lower levels of well-being (Wanberg et al, 2020). Within the sports field, previous evidence relates mental health issues with higher difficulties to undertake a dual career pathway (Sallen et al, 2018;Sorkkila et al, 2020). As highlighted by other authors (e.g., Samuel et al, 2020;Stambulova et al, 2020), COVID-19 lockdown can be understood as a changeevent with unexpected demands for the athletes that combine academic and sports career.…”

“…This is considered a high demanding stage that requires both high personal competencies (Miró et al, 2018;Perez-Rivases et al, 2020) and a supportive environment (Morris et al, 2020). Previous research has warned about the negative consequences that a non-successful dual career might have for athletes' mental health (Sallen et al, 2018;Sorkkila et al, 2020), highlighting the need to approach this by taking a holistic approach (e.g., Wylleman and Lavallee, 2004;Wylleman, 2019) that captures both indirect (e.g., impact on life-spheres) and direct (e.g., anxiety/depression and social dysfunction) indicators of athletes' mental health.…”

Alpine Ski Coaches’ and Athletes’ Perceptions of Factors Influencing Adaptation to Stress in the Classroom and on the Slopes

“…Contrary to this original aim, a traditional assumption in sport psychology research is that the combination of academic study and high-level sport may also involve challenges that could make athletes vulnerable to increased levels of stress (cf. Stambulova and Wylleman, 2015; Sallen et al, 2018). In the present study, the stress levels reported by the athletes were nevertheless relatively low in intensity.…”

Dual career of junior athletes: Identifying challenges, available resources, and roles of social support providers (Carrera dual de deportistas junior: identificando retos, recursos disponibles, y roles de apoyo social)

“…With the notion of early specialisation in sport, the issues related to DC may arise even at the stage of primary school, but the likelihood will be enhanced when athletes have increasing training hours and competitions while having academic workloads in adolescence and early adulthood (Sallen, Hemming, & Richartz, 2018). As other domains related to early specialisation such as music and dance, a small number of talented young people can develop a professional level of career in the end ; they might need to make a decision on their commitment to sport, music, and dance in adolescence to accelerate their elite career path ways (Patrick, Ryan, Alfeld-Liro, Fredricks, Hruda et al, 1999).…”