Mental Health in Youth Elite Athletes

Abstract

Most common mental health disorders begin in youth and early adulthood, with roughly half of these disorders emerging in mid-adolescence. Therefore, understanding mental health in youth sport settings is critical to supporting athlete well-being. Although sport offers many key benefits for athletic, social, and personal development, the competitive demands placed on young athletes may increase susceptibility to mental health symptoms and disorders during an already challenging developmental period. In particular, elite youth athletes are exposed to a range of stressors including the pressure to perform and perfectionism, burnout, coach or parental pressures, risk of abuse or maltreatment, injury, concussion, body image or weight concerns, and disrupted sleep. In this chapter, we provide an overview of the key considerations for practitioners working with young athletes to help understand the relationships between youth sport and mental health.