Authors:

Lucero Montero

Date Created:

Not specified

Course Title:

Professor:

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About Paper:

Fans believe that being an athlete is easy because they know how to handle pressure, have good communication, be in control of their emotions, and are expected to be friendly and approachable. In reality, athletes go through everyday emotions like everyone else. They have good days and bad days. Many great college athletes have lost their sense of purpose and meaning in their lives (e.g., Goraczko et al., 2021; Harris et al., 2019; Massey & Whitley, 2023; Seligman, 2011) due to injuries and losing passion in their sport, which has led to depression, stress, aggression, and frustration. For example, Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles publicly shared their depression stories within the last couple of years. Other athletes spend too much time worrying about how well they have performed. It leads them to lose passion for their sport, forgetting the real reason why they became athletes in the first place. This has caused them to have issues with their family and close relationships. In this research, I will create a survey to compare athlete's sense of purpose in their sport and outside of their sport as well as measure recent feelings of depression, stress, frustration, and aggression. This will include current athletes who know that they will continue their sport after college, athletes who will not play sports after college, injured athletes, non-injured athletes, and previous athletes that will be collected through snowball sampling. This research aims to uncover patterns that athletes follow after losing purpose in their sports and dealing with aggression and depression as well as helping them find a path forward after these challenges. We expect that many athletes will show these traditional patterns but that some will provide insight into more productive ways of healing and coping through a sense of purpose.

Source:

Auburn University / College of Liberal Arts / 2025

Topics:

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Co-authors:

Lucero Montero