Research summary · Women's sport
Mental-health symptom prevalence in elite female athletes
Researchers synthesized symptom-screening studies focused specifically on elite female athletes.
- Publication year
- 2026
- First published online
- Publication type
- Systematic review and meta-analysis
- Journal
- Psychology of Sport and Exercise
- Population / context
- Elite women's sport
What the publication reports
Across 122 articles, pooled prevalence was 19.4% for anxiety symptoms, 18.7% for depression symptoms and 18.6% for disordered-eating symptoms, using 37, 56 and 57 contributing studies respectively.
Limits and interpretation
Screening symptoms are not clinical diagnoses, and instruments, sports and sampling methods differed substantially. The analysis cannot determine whether elite sport causes or protects against these outcomes.
Read the source
Consult the original record for the full author list, methods, references, funding and competing-interest disclosures.
Prevalence of mental health symptoms in elite female athletes: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Original publication / indexed recordPMID: 41713823DOI: 10.1016/j.psychsport.2026.103090Reader discussion
Discuss the evidence.
Ask a question, share a source or discuss the methods. Respectful disagreement is welcome. Every comment and reply is reviewed before publication.
Loading comments…