Question
Research Question: Depression in College-Athletes: Effects on the Ability to Remain Focused
Introduction/Literature Review:
→ Written in APA format (headings, in-text citations, page numbers, etc)
→ Include a title page and annotated bibliography
→ Coherently integrate at least EIGHT empirical peer-reviewed research articles – need PDF copies of each article to submitted to my instructor along with the lit review
→ Should explain how each relate to your question of interest, not just summarize the articles (USE IN-TEXT CITATIONS)
→ At least 3 hypotheses must be stated at the end!
Hypotheses – A statement in the form of a prediction and an explanation – What relationship exists between your variables? What are potential causes for the behavior or phenomenon?
– Example hypothesis:
→ Research participants who play violent video games are predicted to behave more aggressively than participants who passively watch televised violence because video-game participants’ aggression is reinforced (rewarded) while playing the game.
– Alternative hypothesis:
→ Research participants who play violent video games are predicted to behave less aggressively than participants who passively watch televised violence because video-game participants have the opportunity to release any aggressive impulses.
Introduction/Literature Review:
→ 3-5 pages in length – use the space wisely
→ Introduction paragraph – What is the general topic/problem? Why do I care? What is your specific, novel question?
→ Body paragraphs – What is already known about the topic? What are the variables in your question? Define them conceptually and operationally. What current literature relates to your topic? Elaborate on the methodology and findings of each article. How do the articles relate to each other? What literature supports/relates to/makes your question important? How do the articles provide supporting evidence for your hypotheses?
→ Conclusion paragraph – How does your question fill a gap in knowledge in the field? (What is the purpose of you doing this study? What are you answering/learning?) Explicitly state your three hypotheses.
Annotated Bibliography:
→ Written in APA format and alphabetized by author last name
→ For each of the EIGHT peer-reviewed ORGINAL SOURCE research articles, a half page summary of the article in your own words is required for the annotated bibliography
→ What was the question asked? What were the variables? Which research methods did they use? (Should NOT be copied and pasted from the article – that is plagiarism)
→ How does this article relate to the question you’re asking? Is it helpful? Does it support or refute your argument? How has this changed your way of thinking about the topic? Do you fully agree with their conclusions? (Be skeptical)
Solution
Annotated Bibliography
Armstrong, S. N., Burcin, M. M., Bjerke, W. S., & Early, J. (2015). Depression in student athletes: A particularly at-risk group? A systematic review of the literature. Athletic Insight, 7(2), 177.
This study argues that student non-athletes are at a higher risk of experiencing various health behaviors directly linked to depressive symptoms than student athletes because the latter has various protective factors such as social support, self-confidence and esteem, and connectedness. These findings were reached by utilizing Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) approach to exploring the association between depression and collegiate athletes. My argument disagrees with this finding because student-athletes are more predisposed than student non-athletes to risk factors relevant to depression, such as demands and pressures of the game and physical injuries. However, this article will be useful in my paper because it states that student-athletes face more barriers to the treatment of depression. This information enhances the argument that barriers such as rejecting to seek mental health intervention can negatively affect the treatment of depression.
Miller, K. E., & Hoffman, J. H. (2009). Mental well-being and sport-related identities in college students. Sociology of sport journal, 26(2), 335-356.
This study sought to explore the link between athletic involvement dimensions such as individual sport participation, jock identity, team sport participation, athlete identity, and suicidal behavior and depression. The researchers conducted an Athletic Involvement Study where through comprehensive measures of athletic involvement involving 791 undergraduate students. According to the findings in this study, the strength of athlete identity was negatively correlated to suicidal behavior and depression, while the strength of jock identity was positively linked to these outcomes. Also, sport-related identities mediated the link between team sports participation and suicidal behavior and suicide attempts. Of interest is the finding concerning jock identity, where a strong one is a strong predictor of various behavioral problems. Therefore, I will use this information in the research concerning depression among college student athletes, particularly in explaining college athletes’ reluctance to seek help on mental health issues due to the stereotypes surrounding them……………for help with this assignment contact us via email Address: consulttutor10@gmail.com
Literature Review
There is increased attention on mental health issues among collegiate athletes especially due to an increasing number of collegiate athletes sharing their personal experiences. Many research studies have indicated that stress can increase within competitive sports especially due to the demand and pressures experienced while participating in the sports. Additionally, there are concerns that these stressors lead to depression when the sporting crater is ongoing. Moreover, due to the stigma linking mental health problems among athletes with weakness, collegiate athletes may find it difficult to disclose their concerns or seek mental health interventions. As a result, the depression intensifies, which negatively affects the collegiate athlete’s performance and focus. These outcomes also leave them exposed and vulnerable to further depressive symptoms. Thus in order to ensure better mental health outcomes, focus, and performance among college athletes, it is important to place greater emphasis on the stress that they are predisposed to and encouraging them to disclose their concerns.
At first, some studies argue that mental health issues are rare or do not exist among athletes, including collegiate athletes especially due to the protective factors. Graupensperger et al. (2020) confirm the importance of such protective factors, particularly teammate connectedness and social sport among athlete students, by examining how it impacted their mental health during COVID-19. Graupensperger et al. (2020) conducted surveys among athlete students before and after physical distancing measures. Their results indicated that student athletes who reported more teammate connectedness and received more social support reported less dissolution of the athletic identity and better mental health and well-being (Graupensperger et al., 2020). Therefore, social support and connectedness with peers are significant in ensuring mental health during tough times such as during the COVID-19 pandemic. Considering this importance, Armstrong et al. (2015) utilized the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) approach to explore the association between depression and collegiate athletes and argues that even though some studies show that student athletes are at a lower risk of experiencing various health behaviors directly linked to depressive symptoms than student non-athletes. This is because student athletes have various protective factors explored by Graupensperger et al. (2020), such as social support, self-confidence and esteem, and connectedness……………for help with this assignment contact us via email Address: consulttutor10@gmail.com