The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health in Elite Sport

Social media is becoming increasingly popular amongst elite athletes (Nankervis et al., 2018) and alongside this, mental health is receiving escalating attention in elite sport (Rice et al., 2016). Previously research has reported that athletes use social media to boost their career (Geurin, 2017), keep in touch with others and accumulate information (Browning & Sanderson, 2012). However it has been found that elite athletes' uses of social media can have negative psychological impacts (David et al., 2018) that may put their quality of mental health at risk (Junge & Prinz, in press). The aim of this research was to understand why elite athletes use social media and how their use of it impacts their quality of mental health. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with six elite athletes that are active on social media. Thematic analysis revealed three higher-order themes; Social Media is Mostly Positive, Social Media's Consequences, and Coping Techniques. Higher-order themes and sub-themes explained that elite athletes primarily use social media to boost their careers; nevertheless they do use it for socialising and information. These uses result in a number of positive and negative consequences for elite athletes, however they employ a number of self-generated coping strategies in order to deal with these effects. Athletes' primary coping method seems to align with the current stigma surrounding mental health in elite sport (Howells & Lucassen, 2018). Although athletes brushed off the idea that social media affects their mental health quality, previous research advocates that the psychological responses they described can decrease mental health quality (Junge & Prinz, in press).