O papel da prática desportiva na saúde mental e desempenho escolar em adolescentes em contexto de pandemia

Abstract

In today’s society there is a wider recognition of the benefits of the practice ofsports and physical activity, such as the reduction stress and risk of depression. However,there are also a few associated risks, for instance, injuries and anxiety, both mainlyassociated to sports competitions. Since, during the pandemic, almost all sportscompetitions were cancelled for junior athletes, this study, aimed to analyse if, in thisparticular context, the practice of sports could have a positive impact on both mentalhealth and academic performance of teenagers.The sample is composed by 170 participants, between the ages of 13 and 18 yearsold, where 132 of these are student athletes and 38 are only students. Through an onlinequestionnaire, we tried to analyse if there were any differences between the students whopracticed sports vs. those who didn’t. the data was collected after the secondconfinement, when students were allowed to go back to school and athletes were allowedto return to practice, even if sports competitions were still suspended.The results revealed that, as expected, the practice of elite sports in a pandemiccontext worked as a protective factor against stress, anxiety, and depression, improvingthe academic performance. It also showed, against the hypothesis, that the relationshipbetween coach and athlete does not have an important statistic impact on the stress levelsand, that there is not a significant difference between the practice of individual sports vs.team sports. In conclusion, the results confirm that practicing sports, without competition,helps to protect mental health and improve the academic success of teenagers.

Date of Award	17 Jan 2022
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Cristina Godinho (Supervisor)