Dr. Monna Arvinen-Barrow, Associate Professor in the Laboratory for Sport Psychology & Performance Excellence, is a co-author of a research report on Finnish elite athlete mental health. Other authors are Dr. Satu Kaski (PI; Clear Mind Oy, Finland), Dr. Ulla Kinnunen (Tampere University, Finland), and Dr. Jari Parkkari (UKK Institute, Finland).
Titled ”Miten huippu-urheilijan mieli voi? Nykyisten ja entisten huippu-urheilijoiden henkinen hyvinvointi Suomessa,” [How’s the mind? An investigation into mental well- and illbeing among current and former Finnish elite athletes] the research report sheds light on both active and retired Finnish Elite Athlete’s well- and ill-being factors and the possible connections between them.
The report will be published by Finnish Society of Sport Sciences in December 2020, with an official publication launch webinar scheduled for December 8, 2020, 1:00 – 2:30 pm Finnish time (5:00 am US Central Time). The webinar (in Finnish) is free to attend, and you can register now.
To discuss the project, we asked Dr. Arvinen-Barrow a few questions.
How did you get involved with this project?
I am a native of Finland and have a long history of research collaborations with Finnish sport psychology professionals in different projects. Couple of years ago, when I was putting together my second edited book The Psychology of Sport and Performance Injury: An Interprofessional Case-Based Approach, I reached out to my Finnish colleagues with an invite to contribute to the book (I have a tendency to incorporate Finnish expertise in much of my work where appropriate😊). Dr. Satu Kaski, the PI in this research, was one of the co-authors of that chapter, and she then reached out to me with an invitation to be part of the Finnish Elite Athlete Mental Health project.
Can you share with us the key findings of this report?
Absolutely. Based on mean scores, both active and retired Finnish Elite athletes report somewhat high levels of well-being, with retired athletes reporting slightly higher levels of life satisfaction and psychological function.
The active and retired elite athlete did, however, also report ill-being. Over half of participants had experienced burnout as an athlete. Over 25% of the sample (n = 259) reported symptoms of depression and anxiety. Other ill-being indicators were eating disorders (17%), sleep disturbances (10%), obsessive-compulsive behaviors (6%).
What was interesting, was the relationships between different variables. We found correlations between sport related demands (such as pressure to succeed and risk of injury) and well- and ill-being. We also found that among the active elite athletes, presence of psychosocial resources (e.g., social and coach support, personal goals, self-image, sleep) were positively correlated with well-being, and negatively related with ill-being, to name a few.
What are the cultural differences between American and Finnish elite athlete contributors to well-being?
Thus far, much of the research worldwide on athlete mental health has been focused on the presence of ill-being and mental health concerns, and well-being has focused on the absence of ill-being, instead of the presence of well-being. This also means that much of the research has been very individual and single-scientific discipline focused, rather than accounting for different cultural- and relational factors or being interdisciplinary in nature.
Due to a lack of cross-cultural research, it is hard for me to provide an evidence-based answer to this question. Anecdotally, as someone who has lived in both countries, I would say culture does matter. The context in which elite sport happens is deeply rooted in different cultural and societal systems; including policy, the organizational environment, funding, and so on. While there are obvious cultural and societal differences in a range of ways, I also think there are similarities. Both the American and Finnish culture value high performance sport, and much of the media has been filled with so called “hero stories.” This is slowly changing in both cultural contexts, with more and more elite level athletes openly discussing their mental health and ill-being in public; take Michael Phelps (American Swimmer) and Kiira Korpi (Finnish Figure Skater) for example.