Womens college athletics

ABSTRACT Background: Sexual violence (SV) is a persistent issue on US college campuses, particularly among college student-athletes. Strategies to address SV are urgently needed. Yet, prior research shows that many university practices can be more harmful than helpful to SV survivors and necessitates a reimagination of how institutions support SV survivors. Survivor-centred approaches may be one way to effectively address SV for students, including student-athletes, across college campuses. Objective: This qualitative study explored campus personnel experiences with and perceptions of survivor-centred SV prevention and intervention policies and practices on college campuses and examined how these approaches serve SV survivors, including college student-athletes...

CONTEXT: Pregnant athletes cannot receive proper care if they choose to conceal their pregnancy. Unfortunately, there are many factors that may lead an athlete to conceal. Whereas the extant qualitative literature suggests scholarship and sponsorship are prominent factors in the decision to disclose, this research is limited to elite athletes. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the current study was to quantitatively examine predictors of pregnancy disclosure beyond scholarship and sponsorship in DIII college athletes...

CONTEXT: Marching band (MB) artists experience stressors impacting their physical, mental, and emotional health warranting medical support; and they face challenges like other college students and athletes. Mental health illnesses exist in college and MB settings, but there are barriers impacting access to treatment. OBJECTIVE: To examine perceived barriers and attitudes of MB artists toward seeking care from mental health professionals. The secondary aim will examine barriers and attitudes across gender and history with seeking mental health counseling...

CONTEXT: Over the past decade, the United States military has taken an interest in addressing soldiers' spiritual fitness and readiness to help improve soldiers' mental health and resiliency. Similar efforts have not been applied within the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) population despite the mental health challenges these college students experience. OBJECTIVE: To examine spiritual readiness, spiritual fitness, and depressive symptoms in ROTC cadets. DESIGN: Cross-sectional...

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant effect on the mental health of athletes. How this has affected quality of life (QoL), specifically in the college population, is poorly defined. HYPOTHESIS: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the mental and physical QoL will have decreased in collegiate athletes as compared with before the pandemic. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level 3. METHODS: Division I athletes from a total of 23 varsity teams at a single institution completed surveys between 2018 and 2022...

CONTEXT: As colleges and universities continue to focus on creating diverse, equitable, and inclusive environments, it is important to gain more knowledge on the experiences that Muslim student-athletes have while fasting during the month of Ramadan. While previous researchers have investigated the physical effects of fasting on the body, little is known about the challenges or support Muslim student athletes experience while fasting and participating in sport during Ramadan. OBJECTIVE: To explore the experiences of Muslim collegiate student-athletes regarding fasting during Ramadan while participating in sports...

BACKGROUND: Student-athletes are one subgroup of college students in the USA at risk for dating violence and sexual risk behaviors. Despite this, research on student-athletes' dating behaviors is limited; existing research pertains primarily to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I athletes and focuses on male student-athletes as perpetrators of dating and sexual violence. While some existing programs aim to reduce dating violence and promote healthy relationships, these programs are education based, and not tailored to the specific strengths and challenges of student-athletes...

BACKGROUND: Visual attention plays a crucial role in daily living and in sports, affecting an athlete's performance and thus, potentially, the outcome of a match. However, studies assessing the association between the level of sports expertise and visual attention have yielded mixed results. This study was conducted to examine whether visual attention could be developed with increased sports expertise, and whether visual attention differed between male athletes and female athletes. METHODS: A total of 128 participants were included in this study: 64 first-level national soccer athletes recruited from college soccer teams (considered elite athletes; 32 men and 32 women with similar soccer performance requirements and training experience), and 64 physical education college students with limited soccer experience (considered novice athletes; 32 men and 32 women with matched soccer experience)...

College sexual assault is a common problem, and survivors often do not report their experience to college campus officials or law enforcement for fear of not being believed. This study examined how contextual factors such as alcohol use and whether the perpetrator was described as a student-athlete or student, and rater characteristics, such as the history of sexual assault and attitudes toward rape, influenced college students' perceptions of the believability of a hypothetical victim's sexual assault account...

College student-athletes represent a high-risk group for heavy alcohol consumption and negative alcohol-related consequences. Although college drinking correlates with access to low-cost alcohol, no study has examined demand, or the relationship between price and consumption, in student-athletes. Furthermore, the prevalence of anxiety, depression, and drinking to cope motives in student-athletes suggest athlete-specific risks of alcohol consumption that have not yet been examined in conjunction with demand...

Biological sex is a primary determinant of athletic performance because of fundamental sex differences in anatomy and physiology dictated by sex chromosomes and sex hormones. Adult men are typically stronger, more powerful, and faster than women of similar age and training status. Thus, for athletic events and sports relying on endurance, muscle strength, speed, and power, males typically outperform females by 10%-30% depending on the requirements of the event. These sex differences in performance emerge with the onset of puberty and coincide with the increase in endogenous sex steroid hormones, in particular testosterone in males, which increases 30-fold by adulthood, but remains low in females...

Participation in sports, especially those involving impact loading, enhance bone mineral content (BMC) and density (BMD). Additionally, participation in impact loading sports may strengthen relationships between strength or power and bone variables. The purpose of this investigation was to examine relationships between measures of muscular performance and bone variables in Division I endurance athletes (29 males, 31 females, 19.6 ± 1.4 years). Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans were analyzed at the anterior-posterior (AP) and lateral (LAT) spine, femoral neck (FN), total hip (TH), whole body (WB), and ultra-distal forearm (UD) for BMC and BMD measures...

BACKGROUND: People diagnosed with genetic heart diseases (GHDs) associated with sudden cardiac death (SCD) have historically been restricted from competitive sports. Recent data documenting return-to-play (RTP) experiences following shared decision making (SDM) suggest that cardiac event rates for athletes with a GHD are lower than previously described, thereby suggesting an opportunity to reconsider this paradigm. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to evaluate clinical outcomes among National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I university and professional athletes diagnosed with a GHD...

The purpose of this study was to estimate the workloads accumulated by collegiate female soccer players during a competitive season and to compare the workloads of starters and substitutes. Data from 19 college soccer players (height: 1.58 ± 0.06 m; body mass: 61.57 ± 6.88 kg) were extracted from global positioning system (GPS)/heart rate (HR) monitoring sensors to quantify workload throughout the 2019 competitive season. Total distance, distance covered in four speed zones, accelerations, and time spent in five HR zones were examined as accumulated values for training sessions, matches, and the entire season...

In the United States, college students have been identified as a high-risk group for sexual violence (SV) victimization and perpetration, with one in three women and one in four men experiencing SV in their lifetimes. Therefore, studies investigating both perpetration and victimization across genders are pertinent. Additionally, in the context of higher education, athletics is often viewed as a high-risk environment for SV. Despite established relationships between SV and intercollegiate athletics, research on this topic is not conclusive due to the heterogeneous nature of college sports, as well as a dearth of research on recreational athletes...

OBJECTIVE: Concussion is a growing public health concern given the large number of youth and collegiate athletes participating in collision sports. Sport-related concussions can have an adverse impact on student-athletes' health and academic performance. Athletic programs within academic organizations are motivated to employ the most effective and efficient diagnostic and recovery procedures to minimize the duration and impact of these symptoms on student-athletes' functioning. The present study sought to further our understanding regarding the value and frequency of conducting baseline assessments when evaluating sport-related concussions...

CONTEXT: Injury or illness can impact an individual's perception of their health status and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Concussion is an injury that can result in several different symptoms, impairments, and functional limitations that have been found to lower HRQOL. Furthermore, concussion has been found to impact emotional and behavioral dyscontrol domains of HRQOL in pediatric populations; however, this has yet to be explored in other populations. OBJECTIVE: To compare individuals with and without a concussion history and (1) HRQOL and (2) the emotional and behavioral dyscontrol domains of HRQOL in college students...

OBJECTIVES: Women are under-represented in the sports literature despite increasing rates of sports participation. Our objective was to investigate the risks and benefits of an elite women's soccer career in five health domains: general, musculoskeletal, reproductive endocrinology, post-concussion, and mental. METHODS: An online survey was distributed to retired US college, semi-professional, professional, and national team soccer players using personal networks, email, and social media...

Objective : To assess athletic trainers' (ATs) perceptions regarding the importance of athletes' beliefs and athletic department stakeholders in facilitating help-seeking for mental health (MH) care. Participants : 534 ATs within collegiate athletic departments ( M age = 35.50 years; 64.2% women; 87.3% White). Methods : ATs were asked to indicate the extent to which they believed 10 student-athlete beliefs about MH (e.g. confidence MH treatments work) and 10 stakeholders (e.g. teammate) would facilitate student-athletes' help-seeking for MH care (1, Strongly Disagree, to 5, Strongly Agree )...

CONTEXT: Approximately 1 in 5 student-athletes experience some type of mental health concern. However, less than half of student-athletes reporting mental health concerns seek mental health treatment (i.e., psychotherapy or medication). Data concerning barriers to student-athletes seeking mental health care are limited, but suggest that stigma is the most frequently reported. Further, the effect of student-athletes and their sport psychologists having shared identities (e.g., race, gender), which may serve as a facilitator of help-seeking, has been minimally explored...