Emotion Regulation in Collegiate Student-Athletes: A Scoping Review of Mental Health and Performance Outcomes

Abstract

Student-athletes face mental health challenges as they are exposed to an unprecedented, shifting landscape; an already difficult balance of academics and athletics has been compounded by emerging social and monetary expectations, contributing to increased rates of anxiety and depression. Emotion regulation has been widely researched in the sports world, yet there is a lack of research that caters to the unique experiences of collegiate athletes. This scoping review aims to synthesize the current body of research on emotion regulation strategies as they pertain to collegiate athletes, noting mental health and performance outcomes measured. Further, this review intends to address open gaps and provide suggestions for future research in the field. It follows PRISMA-ScR formatting guidelines and leverages the search database APA PsycInfo using relevant terminology. A total of 10 of the 82 studies initially returned by the electronic search were deemed eligible by inclusion criteria, representing research primarily conducted in the United States and East Asia. Most included studies employed intervention-based methodologies and assessed mental health-specific metrics; fewer studies focused on performance outcomes. Across studies, emotion regulation strategies were associated with improved metrics in mental, social, academic, and performance categories, but the current evidence lacks widespread and diverse representation. This review implicates emotion regulation as an effective tool to enhance collegiate athlete well-being and performance. Future research that prioritizes diversity, sport-specificity, and standardized measures will yield a more informed dataset for clinicians and athletic departments to reference. Keywords: collegiate athletics, student-athletes, emotion regulation, mental health