SynthesisFrontiers in psychology2025
The relationship between social support and mental health in athletes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Frontiers in psychology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- Indirect Associations Between Perceived Coach-Athlete Relationship Quality and Mental Health Through Competitive State Self-Confidence: A Cross-Sectional Study Among Hungarian Athletes.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Development and validation of the Behavioral FAmily Sport SupporT (BFaSST) Scale.Journal of research on adolescence : the official journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence · 2026Article
- Sense of Community Narratives in Colombian Masters Swimming.Journal of community psychology · 2026Article
- An Overarching Conceptual Framework for Menstrual Health in Sport Research: Theory, Causality and Validation.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Review
- Evaluation of self-efficacy and psychological well-being among coaches of athletes with and without disabilities: a comparative cross-sectional study.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Pre-Competition Stress in Female Volleyball Players: The Role of Experience, Sleep, and Coping.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Social support and psychological safety in university volleyball: a qualitative study of sustained participation.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Latent profiles of pre-competition psychological states in young Chinese judo athletes: associations with depression and mental toughness.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Bridging policy and practice: exploring mental health assets in varsity athletes and non-athletes in Canada.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Article
- Psychological hardiness and social support as protective factors against burnout in high-performance athletes.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: Social support is widely recognized as a key determinant of athletes' mental health; however, inconsistencies remain regarding the strength and source-specific effects of this relationship. This meta-analysis systematically quantifies the association between social support and mental health outcomes in athletes and examines variations by support source. Methods: A systematic search was conducted across multiple databases to identify relevant studies. Random-effects models were used to calculate pooled effect sizes expressed as correlation coefficients ( Results: Forty studies encompassing 14,462 athletes were included. Overall social support correlated positively with well-being ( Discussion: In conclusion, social support plays a vital role in enhancing athletes' mental health, particularly through close interpersonal relationships. These findings underscore the importance of integrating diverse sources of social support in interventions aimed at improving psychological well-being in athletes.
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