Adverse Childhood Experiences and Psychological Correlates in College Students: A Comparison of Student-Athletes and Non-Student-Athletes
Over the last two and a half decades, there has been a surge of research into adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). ACEs have been found to be a significant predictor of mental health outcomes in adulthood, and researchers have begun to explore the relationship between ACEs and mental health outcome...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Sports |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4663/13/7/194 |
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| author | Matthew D. Powless Zachary A. Pilot Elisabeth R. Brown Mikaila C. Ealum Kaitlyn N. Back Sabrina Yamashita Kaitlin Mindiola |
| author_facet | Matthew D. Powless Zachary A. Pilot Elisabeth R. Brown Mikaila C. Ealum Kaitlyn N. Back Sabrina Yamashita Kaitlin Mindiola |
| author_sort | Matthew D. Powless |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Over the last two and a half decades, there has been a surge of research into adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). ACEs have been found to be a significant predictor of mental health outcomes in adulthood, and researchers have begun to explore the relationship between ACEs and mental health outcomes in athletes. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study has directly compared the mental health of student-athletes to non-student-athletes in the context of exposure to ACEs. In the present study, we compared psychological outcomes observed in college students (123 student-athletes and 149 non-student-athletes) on two mental health variables—depressive symptoms and difficulties in emotion regulation—at one university in the U.S. Results indicated that exposure to ACEs had a significant effect on both depressive symptoms and difficulties in emotion regulation, while student-athlete status only had a significant effect on depressive symptoms. There was no significant interaction effect between exposure to ACEs and student-athlete status. This pattern of main effects and an absence of an interaction effect remained even when the psychological trait of hardiness was controlled for. The implications and limitations of these results will be discussed. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-be864d3477db47efaa07cb02f9986967 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2075-4663 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sports |
| spelling | doaj-art-be864d3477db47efaa07cb02f99869672025-08-20T03:56:49ZengMDPI AGSports2075-46632025-06-0113719410.3390/sports13070194Adverse Childhood Experiences and Psychological Correlates in College Students: A Comparison of Student-Athletes and Non-Student-AthletesMatthew D. Powless0Zachary A. Pilot1Elisabeth R. Brown2Mikaila C. Ealum3Kaitlyn N. Back4Sabrina Yamashita5Kaitlin Mindiola6Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, University of Evansville, 1800 Lincoln Ave. Evansville, IN 47714, USAPsychology Department, University of Southern Indiana, 8600 University Blvd., Evansville, IN 47712, USAPsychology Department, University of Southern Indiana, 8600 University Blvd., Evansville, IN 47712, USADepartment of Counseling and Educational Psychology, Indiana University, 201 N. Rose Ave., Bloomington, IN 47405, USAPsychology Department, University of Southern Indiana, 8600 University Blvd., Evansville, IN 47712, USADepartment of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, University of Evansville, 1800 Lincoln Ave. Evansville, IN 47714, USADepartment of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, University of Evansville, 1800 Lincoln Ave. Evansville, IN 47714, USAOver the last two and a half decades, there has been a surge of research into adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). ACEs have been found to be a significant predictor of mental health outcomes in adulthood, and researchers have begun to explore the relationship between ACEs and mental health outcomes in athletes. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study has directly compared the mental health of student-athletes to non-student-athletes in the context of exposure to ACEs. In the present study, we compared psychological outcomes observed in college students (123 student-athletes and 149 non-student-athletes) on two mental health variables—depressive symptoms and difficulties in emotion regulation—at one university in the U.S. Results indicated that exposure to ACEs had a significant effect on both depressive symptoms and difficulties in emotion regulation, while student-athlete status only had a significant effect on depressive symptoms. There was no significant interaction effect between exposure to ACEs and student-athlete status. This pattern of main effects and an absence of an interaction effect remained even when the psychological trait of hardiness was controlled for. The implications and limitations of these results will be discussed.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4663/13/7/194ACEsstudent-athletesdepressionemotion regulationhardiness |
| spellingShingle | Matthew D. Powless Zachary A. Pilot Elisabeth R. Brown Mikaila C. Ealum Kaitlyn N. Back Sabrina Yamashita Kaitlin Mindiola Adverse Childhood Experiences and Psychological Correlates in College Students: A Comparison of Student-Athletes and Non-Student-Athletes Sports ACEs student-athletes depression emotion regulation hardiness |
| title | Adverse Childhood Experiences and Psychological Correlates in College Students: A Comparison of Student-Athletes and Non-Student-Athletes |
| title_full | Adverse Childhood Experiences and Psychological Correlates in College Students: A Comparison of Student-Athletes and Non-Student-Athletes |
| title_fullStr | Adverse Childhood Experiences and Psychological Correlates in College Students: A Comparison of Student-Athletes and Non-Student-Athletes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Adverse Childhood Experiences and Psychological Correlates in College Students: A Comparison of Student-Athletes and Non-Student-Athletes |
| title_short | Adverse Childhood Experiences and Psychological Correlates in College Students: A Comparison of Student-Athletes and Non-Student-Athletes |
| title_sort | adverse childhood experiences and psychological correlates in college students a comparison of student athletes and non student athletes |
| topic | ACEs student-athletes depression emotion regulation hardiness |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4663/13/7/194 |
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