(PS1-100) Emotion Regulation and Wellbeing in Collegiate Athletes in Aesthetic Sports

The current study examines emotion regulation flexibility (ERF) and well-being. Collegiate athletes experience high demands and low control over their environment; especially females and athletes within aesthetic sports due to harmful social factors and demands that threaten their well-being, compared to male and nonaesthetic sport athletes. Consistent with the transactional theory of stress and coping, individuals with less power to regulate their environment will require greater ability to regulate themselves in accordance with their changing contexts (ERF) to maintain well-being.

We will explore the value of ERF for well-being in collegiate athletes within aesthetic sports with a series of hypotheses. H1: Student-athletes in aesthetic sports with (1a) lower ERF and (1b) greater contextual demands will experience worse overall well-being and worth of sport participation than those with higher ERF and lower contextual demands. H2: ERF will moderate the relation between contextual demands and (2a) overall well-being, (2b) mental health, (2c) physical health, (2d) performance and (2e) worth of sport participation, such that high levels of ERF will attenuate the negative impacts of contextual demands on various facets of well-being. H3 (exploratory): Gender, resources, and stigma will moderate the inverse relationship between contextual demands and (3a) overall well-being, (3b) mental health, (3c) physical health, (3d) performance and (3e) worth of sport participation, such that the relationship will be stronger for women, and people with fewer resources, and greater stigma. H4 (exploratory) will explore the relationship between gender, resources, and mental health stigma and ERF.

Collegiate athletes in aesthetic sports (n = 120) will complete self-report measures of demographics, ERF, contextual demands, well-being, mental health, physical health, performance, worth of sport participation, stigma, and resources.

Hypotheses will be examined with a set of linear regressions. Results to the aforementioned hypotheses and implications for supporting the wellbeing of this population will be discussed.