A few studies have examined mental illness symptoms in university student-athletes during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the limited use of longitudinal design limits the understanding of the progression of these symptoms and the mechanisms by which they developed. The present research aims to describe the trajectory of variation of mental illness symptoms (anxiety, depression, alcohol consumption disorders, and eating disorders) throughout the pandemic, to test causality between perceived stress and symptoms, and to identify individual characteristics (sociodemographic, perceived stress, and social support) influencing the trajectories of mental illness symptoms. On three occasions during the pandemic, 211 university student-athletes were surveyed. Latent growth models and random intercept crossed-lagged panel models were performed. Results indicate that anxiety and depressive symptoms significantly decreased throughout the COVID-19 pandemic while alcohol consumption disorder symptoms significantly increased and eating disorder symptoms did not change significantly. Second, perceived stress was a significant cause of anxiety and depressive symptoms during this pandemic. Conversely, eating disorder symptoms significantly predicted perceived stress. Finally, average perceived stress and average social support availability throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and identifying as a visible minority, significantly predicted the trajectory of depressive symptoms, allowing for the identification of a sub-population at higher risk. Based on these findings, teaching stress management strategies should be an essential component of programs to prevent mental illness symptoms in university student-athletes. Reducing environmental stressors and their consequences among this population should also be prioritised.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19大流行期间大学生运动员精神疾病症状的进展和机制

一些研究检查了 COVID-19 大流行期间大学生运动员的精神疾病症状，但纵向设计的有限使用限制了对这些症状的进展及其发展机制的理解。本研究旨在描述整个大流行期间精神疾病症状（焦虑、抑郁、饮酒障碍和饮食失调）的变化轨迹，测试感知压力与症状之间的因果关系，并确定个体特征（社会人口学、感知压力）和社会支持）影响精神疾病症状的轨迹。疫情期间，我们对 211 名大学生运动员进行了 3 次调查。进行了潜在生长模型和随机截距交叉滞后面板模型。结果表明，在整个 COVID-19 大流行期间，焦虑和抑郁症状显着减少，而饮酒障碍症状显着增加，饮食障碍症状没有显着变化。其次，感知压力是这次大流行期间焦虑和抑郁症状的一个重要原因。相反，饮食失调症状可以显着预测感知压力。最后，在整个 COVID-19 大流行期间，平均感知压力和平均社会支持可用性，以及被识别为明显的少数群体，可以显着预测抑郁症状的轨迹，从而可以识别风险较高的亚群。基于这些发现，教学压力管理策略应该成为预防大学生运动员精神疾病症状的计划的重要组成部分。还应优先考虑减少该人群的环境压力源及其后果。