Suicidal Ideation Of Elite Athletes And Its Implications

Elite athletes hereby means those athletes who have won either the top 3 in major national competitions,or the top 6 in Asian competitions,or the top 8 in the Olympic Games or World Championships.Suicidal ideation refers to the idea of suicidal behavior without taking the explicit action to achieve this purpose,which has the characteristics of concealment,universality,and sporadic.In high intense and competitive environment,elite athletes have been subjected to pressure and challenges on a long-term basis,which are hardly to comprehensive for ordinary people.On one hand,they have to be able to take their physical abilities to their best,on the other hand,they have to meet expectations from management,coaches,fans,etc.,these factors may also lead to suicidal ideation.This study is designed to explore the impact of suicidal ideation towards elite athletes in the forms of qualitative research with questionnaire survey.In the qualitative research,semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 elite athletes,4 coaches and 3 sport psychologists.By analyzing the interview records with the method of thematic analysis,five dimensions related to suicidal ideation were obtained,which are: the reason of suicidal ideation,the representation of suicidal ideation,the assistant to suicidal ideation,the response of suicidal ideation and the meaning of suicidal ideation;In the quantitative research part,questionnaire surveys were used for coaches who used to be elite athletes,for which 120 valid questionnaires were collected,among which 12 had suicidal ideation,that is 10% of total.This study draws the following conclusions: the generation of suicidal ideation of elite athletes is highly associated to the training volume,weight management and the relationship between coaches and athletes;Elite athletes usually manage those suicidal ideations by diverting attention,obtaining support from other people and cognitive readjustment etc.Coaches often underestimate the seriousness of psychological problems of elite athletes.However,personally experiencing suicidal ideation also has positive effect on elite athletes,means it allows elite athletes to improve their ability to cope with setbacks and frustration,as well as to develop a deeper understanding of themselves and life itself.However,once the suicidal thoughts go into action,the tragedy it caused that could not be undone.Therefore,the mental health of elite athletes needs to be paid more attention by coaches?managers and sport psychologists.