Objective: Participation in sports has been shown to be protective against depression and suicidal ideation, but little is known about what factors mediate these relationships.

The gap

Consensus across the literature

Supporting evidence — 8 representative gaps

• Relationships among sport participation, sport and social competence, and mental health symptomatology (2026) · doi

  in sport engagement, Building on our findings, several avenues for future research warrant further consideration to enhance our understanding of sport participation and adolescent mental health. First, studies should explore variations including frequency, duration, and sport type. There is evidence that sustained participation and team-based contexts may enhance mental health benefits through repeated exposure to positive environments and opportunities for skill development, social interaction, and mastery (30, 61, 62). Expanding measures to capture these multidimensional aspects of sport could clarify how different experiences shape outcomes. Second, attention should be given to participant characteristics and moderating factors. For example, gender, age, socioeconomic status, and neighborhood resources all appear to influence how sport participation relates to competence and mental health (63). For in reducing internalizing symptoms through sport competence, while boys may show a reduction in depressive symptoms (12, 55, 56). Similarly, younger adolescents may gain more in collaboration and open-mindedness, whereas older adolescents show stronger improvements in emotional regulation (36). instance, girls may benefit most the (26, organization 64). Exploring Third, future research could investigate different levels of sport engagement, including elite vs. recreational participation. Elite athletes often engage in advanced self-regulation and interpersonal skills, which may interact with mental health outcomes and categorization of sports, school-based vs. recreational programs, and year-round vs. seasonal participation could reveal important mechanisms through which sport contributes to well-being (65). Longitudinal designs would also provide a greater level of insight into how sport participation, competence, and mental health develop over time. Understanding this temporal element could inform interventions aimed at sustaining engagement, building competence, and targeting mental health outcomes across adolescence. This recommendation also supports the notion to develop meaningful relationships which are likely to contribute to more positive athlete mental health outcomes (66). These directions present opportunities for sport participation to be engaged as a time with athletes that coaches need Frontiers in Sports and Active Living 08 frontiersin.org Anderson-Butcher et al. 10.3389/fspor.2026.1833949 viable pathway for supporting adolescent mental health, while identifying the specific conditions and populations for which it is most effective. relationship between sport participation and internalizing behaviors, in particular, demonstrating further how sport as a developmental context can support adolescent mental health in positive ways.

  Keywords: sport mental health participation outcomes competence engagement adolescent positive building future further enhance understanding including
• Relationships among sport participation, sport and social competence, and mental health symptomatology (2026) · doi

  Data availability statement As in any research, limitations inevitably exist, which may help to shape the direction of future research. First, all measures were based on self-report from adolescents, which may be influenced by recall biases and social desirability. While self-report is commonly used in youth sport research, future studies could incorporate multi-informant data from parents, coaches, or teachers to provide a more comprehensive and objective assessment of sport participation, competence, and mental health outcomes (33). Second, the study did not specifically examine elite or highly competitive athletes, which limits the generalizability of the findings. Previous research suggests that mental health outcomes may differ for athletes engaged in high-level competition, where stress, training load, and performance pressure can be greater (67). Additionally, the measure of sport participation was assessed via three items and did not capture important contextual factors such as early specialization, frequency, intensity, type of sport (team vs. individual), or competitive level. As early specialization has been linked to increased risk for mental health difficulties, future research should incorporate more sophisticated measures of sport engagement to explore these relationships. Additionally, the current sample, while adequate for testing the mediational model, was not fully nationally representative. Future studies may wish to include broader and more diverse adolescent populations, as well as examine potential moderators such as age, socioeconomic status, and cultural context, to better understand under what conditions (and for who) sport participation supports mental health. Specifically, it will be important to explore moderators to explore further relationships across different subgroups of adolescents. Qian et al’s research supports this contention (36), finding that the strength of the relationships among sport participation and mental health was dependent upon different social-emotional skills (e.g., emotional regulation, collaboration) perceived by gender, age, and socio- economic the relationships with a more diverse sample might afford a better understanding of these relationships. status of athletes. Continuing study to Finally, although the current findings support a model in which sport participation influences mental health indirectly via competence, longitudinal research is needed to determine the temporal relationships between sport involvement, competence development, and mental health outcomes (12, 30).

  Keywords: sport mental health relationships participation future competence outcomes athletes explore measures self report adolescents social
• Relationships among sport participation, sport and social competence, and mental health symptomatology (2026) · doi

  the above the complexity of how best to coach (60). While mastery-oriented, structured practices may be especially effective for developing athletic competence and reducing internalizing symptoms like anxiety and depression, experiential, collaborative methods appear valuable for enhancing social competence and addressing externalizing behaviors. Perhaps, rather than viewing one approach as ’superior’, it may be more appropriate to consider the specific needs of athletes and the goals of the sport environment (i.e., the contextual features), using a flexible combination of both linear skill development and interactive social learning to promote overall mental health and well-being. reflect The implications of this research are especially relevant in light of growing evidence that student-athletes experience substantial stress related to sport and academic demands (13, 15) yet are less likely to seek professional mental health support compared to their non- and Findings also point to the need for balance in youth sport systems. While developing competence appears to be beneficial, prior research suggests that excessive training demands, high- competition may performance pressures, compromise mental health (14). This raises important practical questions regarding the threshold at which sport involvement shifts from being supportive to potentially harmful. Sport volume, stakeholders performance expectations, and athlete well-being, particularly during critical developmental periods. should be elite-level attentive training to

  Keywords: sport competence mental health especially developing social athletes well demands training performance complexity best coach
• Does athletic identity enhance subjective wellbeing among elite collegiate athletes in team sports? A sequential mediation model of perceived team support and self-efficacy (2026) · doi

  In the design and implementation of this study, there are several limitations. First, the student-athletes participating in the survey of this study were all national second-class athletes, which prevented us from determining whether the difference in athletic levels (Mathews et al., 2021) would affect the relational entity of athletic identity on subjective wellbeing. It is suggested that future studies include student-athletes of diverse levels for verification. Second, although this study took team sports as the research entry point, the survey showed that the sports mainly included football, basketball, volleyball, and a small part of hockey. Therefore, whether the corresponding research conclusions are applicable to other sports requires further empirical evidence. Third, given the large gender ratio of participants in the study, we did not examine the differential effect of gender in the influence mechanism of

  Keywords: athletes sports student survey second whether athletic levels gender design implementation there several limitations first
• The sports-education-health nexus: assessing psychological, cognitive, and social outcomes in a public health framework (2026) · doi

  While the present study offers useful insights into the multidi- mensional role of sports education, several limitations should be acknowledged. • The study used a cross-sectional design, which limits the ability to establish causal relationships among the variables because the temporal direction of the relationships cannot be fully confirmed. • The findings are based on self-reported data, which may involve response bias, social desirability bias, and common method vari- ance, thereby potentially affecting the precision of the measured relationships. Future studies may use objective indicators, such as cognitive performance tests, behavioral measures, or external assessments, to improve validity. • Another limitation relates to the consistently positive and statisti- cally significant relationships observed across the proposed hypotheses. Although these findings are theoretically aligned with prior literature on sports education and developmental outcomes, the strength of the relationships may also reflect certain method- ological factors, including sample homogeneity, self-reported per- ceptions, and potential social desirability tendencies among respondents. Since the participants shared relatively similar edu- cational and sports-related backgrounds, variability in responses may have been reduced, potentially contributing to stronger posi- tive associations among the constructs. Therefore, the findings should be interpreted with appropriate caution. Future studies are encouraged to utilize more heterogeneous samples, longitudinal designs, and multi-source data collection approaches to further validate the robustness and generalizability of the observed relationships. • The sample was drawn from a specific context using convenience sampling, which may restrict the broader generalizability of the findings across different cultural, institutional, and socioeconomic environments. In addition, the study relied on a convenience sam- pling approach, which may limit the representativeness of the

  Keywords: relationships sports among education self reported bias social desirability potentially future observed across sample generalizability
• Long-Term Tennis Participation and Self-Efficacy in Older South Korean Male Adults: A Qualitative Study (2026) · doi

  Background: Self-efficacy is an important psychological factor for healthy aging, but how long-term sport participation builds self-efficacy in older adults is not fully understood.

  Keywords: self efficacy background important psychological factor healthy aging long term sport participation builds older adults
• Fancy a Game of Football?: The Well-Being Benefits of Engaging Children and Young People in Out of Home Care in Sport (2026) · doi

  To date, few studies have assessed whether programmes such as leisure time football can be effective in enhancing health and well-being, and offer an effective model for engagement of young people in mental health services.

  Keywords: effective health date assessed whether programmes leisure time football enhancing well offer model engagement young
• Sports Participation as a Protective Factor Against Depression and Suicidal Ideation in Adolescents as Mediated by Self-Esteem and Social Support (2009) · doi

  Objective: Participation in sports has been shown to be protective against depression and suicidal ideation, but little is known about what factors mediate these relationships.

  Keywords: objective participation sports protective against depression suicidal ideation little known factors mediate relationships