The study, led by Taylor Rodriguez, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Mississippi, and Allie Bond, assistant professor in the Rutgers Department of Urban-Global Public Health, surveyed 78 student-athletes drawn from NCAA Division I, Division II and Division III universities. By spanning all three competitive tiers, the researchers captured perspectives from athletes in large, resource-rich athletic programs as well as those at smaller institutions where mental health staffing may be thinner. The survey asked participants about suicidal thoughts and about their views on prevention strategies, including whether such training should be compulsory. According to the researchers, no previous survey had directly asked student-athletes whether they believe suicide prevention training should be mandatory, even though earlier studies have established that suicide is the second-leading cause of death among NCAA athletes.

The answer to that previously unasked question was, in the researchers’ words, an overwhelming yes. Rodriguez suggested that the athletes’ strong desire for education may be rooted in personal experience. Since nearly 40 percent of respondents had experienced suicidal thoughts themselves, she noted, the demand for information may stem from having faced difficulties without adequate tools to navigate them. In her view, if the NCAA recognized these common struggles by requiring athletes to learn about suicide and mental health, it could help athletes feel more supported and more comfortable reaching out for help when they need it.

Bond, herself a former student-athlete, framed the results as a direct message from the athletes to the people and institutions responsible for their welfare. Student-athletes are saying they are struggling and that they want resources, she said, and if clinicians, researchers and communities continue not to provide that support and not to address their struggles, they are failing to meet athletes’ needs. Her comments underscore a central tension in collegiate athletics: the same institutions that celebrate athletes’ physical performance often lack systematic mechanisms for identifying and responding to psychological distress.

Part of what makes college athletes a distinct population, the researchers argue, is the cluster of stressors unique to collegiate sports. Athletes must juggle expectations from coaches and fans, navigate demanding travel schedules, and contend with the constant possibility that an injury or a dip in performance could cost them their athletic scholarship or their name, image and likeness deals, the commercial arrangements that now allow college players to earn money from their personal brands. Unlike other students, an athlete’s academic and financial stability can hinge on what happens on the field, adding a high-stakes performance pressure that few campus peers experience.

To these familiar pressures, a newer and rapidly growing stressor has been added: legalized mobile sports betting. The NCAA has reported that one in three high-profile student-athletes has received threats or abusive messages from someone with a betting interest in their performance. Bond described the dynamic in blunt terms: a wide receiver misses a pass, someone loses money, and suddenly that student is being attacked on social media. She emphasized that these are 19- and 20-year-old kids, and questioned how they are being equipped to respond to that hate while still trying to pass classes and succeed academically. The convergence of gambling-driven harassment with existing performance pressures illustrates how the mental health landscape for college athletes has shifted in recent years, and why the researchers believe prevention programs must be designed around athletes’ actual circumstances rather than generic student populations.

The survey also revealed a telling pattern in how athletes seek help. Most student respondents said they would turn to teammates about mental health concerns before approaching counselors, psychologists or even their coaches. Bond said this preference makes sense, because people generally feel more comfortable talking to those who walk a similar path in life and can understand their experiences. But she warned that this reliance on peer networks carries an implication that athletic programs cannot ignore: if athletes are most likely to confide in one another, then teams themselves must be given the tools to respond to crises, and teammates must have the opportunity to follow up after an initial conversation.

That insight shapes one of the study’s most important practical conclusions. Bond argued that a one-time training session is going to have a really hard time moving the needle on stigma. Instead, she said, the cultural norms within athletic departments need to change so that mental well-being is promoted continuously while supporting a high-risk group. In other words, the goal is not merely to deliver information once per season but to embed mental health literacy into the everyday fabric of team life, making conversations about suicide and psychological distress as routine as conversations about physical injury and recovery.

Rodriguez echoed that vision, stating that student-athletes want and need more suicide prevention information while in college, and that it is important to learn how to better support them and ensure that athletics programs and universities are openly discussing suicide and mental health. Teaching athletes about available resources and making those resources readily accessible may be one important step toward that goal, she said. The researchers’ recommendations point toward mandatory, sustained training that accounts for the realities of collegiate sport, including scholarship insecurity, name, image and likeness pressures, travel demands, coach and fan expectations, and the harassment linked to sports betting.

The stakes of inaction are difficult to overstate. With suicide ranking as the second-leading cause of death among NCAA athletes, and with nearly four in ten surveyed athletes reporting lifetime suicidal thoughts, the study suggests that mental health risk in collegiate athletics is not an edge case but a widespread experience. At the same time, the near-universal support for mandatory training among respondents indicates that athletes are not resistant to intervention; they are actively requesting it. The researchers hope their findings will prompt the NCAA and its member institutions to treat suicide prevention education not as an optional enhancement but as a core component of athlete welfare, one that gives young athletes the information, resources and cultural permission to seek help before a crisis unfolds.

Subject of Research: Suicide risk and help-seeking behavior among United States collegiate student-athletes

Article Title: Student-athletes report need for suicide prevention, training

Article References: Student-athletes report need for suicide prevention, training. (n.d.). Original publication

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: Not provided

Keywords: student-athletes, suicide prevention, NCAA, mental health, Behavioral Sciences, University of Mississippi, Rutgers University, sports betting, help-seeking behavior, collegiate athletics, mandatory training, NIL deals