ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1591178
The Protective Role of Competitive Sports in Reducing Suicidality Amongst Youth Athletes
Provisionally accepted
- 1Scottish Rite for Children, Dallas, Texas, United States
- 2University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States
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Suicidality is a critical concern among young people, and a prevalent concern in athletes. This study aimed to investigate the rate of suicidality among youth athletes in sports medicine clinics and to evaluate the risk for suicidality in this population. A retrospective chart review of 8,599 patients (10-18 years old) seen between 2018 and 2022 was conducted using the Ask Suicide-Screening Questionnaire (ASQ). Analyses examined relationships between ASQ responses and demographic, clinical, and sport-related variables. From the population, 1.36% screened positive for suicidality, with a higher proportion of females screening positive (70.94% vs. 29.06%, p = .0115). Amongst athletes, higher competition levels were associated with lower rates of suicidality than those competing at lower levels (p = .0162). While female sex was associated with increased suicidality overall, this was not significant within the athlete subgroup. Higher levels of sport competition were associated with lower rates of suicidal ideation, suggesting a potential protective effect.
Keywords: adolescent mental health, Competitive sports, Suicidality, Suicide screening, Youth athletes
Received: 10 Mar 2025; Accepted: 20 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Sparagana, Clark, Herge and Stapleton. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
V. Claire Clark, Scottish Rite for Children, Dallas, 75219, Texas, United States
Emily J Stapleton, Scottish Rite for Children, Dallas, 75219, Texas, United States
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