Emotion regulation and mental health in sport

Introduction: Adolescence is accompanied by vast physical, mental and behavioural adaptations that contribute to increased vulnerability to the development of mental health symptoms (Lee et al. 2014). The peak onset of psychopathologies occurs during adolescence (Paus et al. 2008) with a prevalence of 1in5 (Lee et al. 2014). Whilst this condition is comorbid in nature, it also effects society more broadly (Lee et al. 2014).

Emotion regulation (ER) is a significant feature of mental health and wellbeing. ER as defined by Gross (1998 p.275), is "the processes by which individuals influence which emotions they have, when they have them, and how they experience and express these emotions". ER strategies can be categorised as adaptive or maladaptive, examples include avoidance, suppression, reappraisal and problem-solving. Studies from the Psychology literature suggest that emotionally challenging situations can often be handled if regulatory strategies are adopted adaptively. As suggested by Aldao and Nolen-Hoeksema (2010), maladaptive ER may have a greater effect on psychopathology than not using adaptive strategies. Further, Schäfer et al. (2017) concluded that adaptive strategies serve as a protective factor against psychopathology and increase individual well-being as they provide individuals with the capability to manage emotionally difficult situations.

Schäfer et al. (2017) suggest research should consider how best to develop these crucial skills for adolescents and thus, I propose sport to be a potential context for doing so. This proposition is based on a novel study by Larson et al. (2006), who found students who participated in sport utilised more emotion regulation strategies than those who participated in other organised activities. For this age group, studies are predominately conducted in school settings however, many adolescents also participate in sport. Additionally, sport is a safe environment in which stressful situations occur, providing opportunities for adolescents to regulate emotions. Currently, no study has assessed the relationship between ER and their links with mental and social health within youth sport.

Aims and Hypotheses: The aim is to investigate the relationship between ER and mental and social health amongst youth sport participants by addressing the following sub-questions: 1) what are the most commonly used/effective emotion regulation strategies in sport? 2) how do adaptive and maladaptive strategies influence each other? 3) in what way are emotion regulation strategies positively or negatively related with mental and social health?

It is hypothesised that athletes who utilise adaptive strategies will experience less psychopathology and greater levels of positive mental and social health. This study will contribute to existing literature and theory by providing insight into which strategies are most effective for combating psychiatric symptoms. Additionally, it will contribute to knowledge on how sport could act as a protective factor against mental and social health for adolescents through the development and use of ER. The findings would therefore, have significant implications for how wellbeing is promoted through sport. In addition, an association between emotion regulation strategy use in sport and indicators of mental health may have wider implications for symptom treatment of mental disorders worldwide, such as the NHS social prescribing agenda. Social prescribing can help foster a variety of beneficial health outcomes and thus, improve wellbeing (NHS England, 2019).
Methodology: The investigation would begin with a feasibility study to assess the possibility of sport interventions for promoting ER. This would then be followed by a mixed methods study based on a developmental between-subjects design with youth sport participants (13-18yrs).