Mental Health Levels among Chinese College Bridge Athletes

Bridge is an intellectual sport that helps to develop the ability to analyze logic and teamwork, and is well developed in Chinese colleges. This study aimed to explore the mental health level and influencing factors of Chinese college bridge athletes. This study was conducted on athletes who participated in the 2023 Chinese College Bridge Championships (N=210). The analysis showed that the lowest SCL-90 score of the athletes was 90, the highest score was 277, and the mean score was 125.76 ± 34.91. There were significant differences in the scores of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) (p < 0.01), Depression (p < 0.05), and Phobic Anxiety (p < 0.05) factors of the athletes of different genders, and the findings showed males were better than females. Athletes of different ages showed significant differences in OCD factor scores (p < 0.05), with higher ages having better mental health. There was a significant difference between athletes with different levels of education in the OCD and Interpersonal Sensitivity factor scores (p < 0.05), with no difference between the Bachelor’s and Master’s groups. However, the PhD group had significantly better mental health. There was a significant difference in the OCD and Phobic Anxiety factor scores among athletes with different years of training (p < 0.05), and the higher the training years, the better the mental health status. There were no significant differences in mental health scores between athletes with different levels of participations and skill levels, however LSD two-by-two comparisons showed that athletes’ mental health improved as the number of participations increased. Overall, the older the age, the longer the training time, and the greater the number of participants, the better the mental health of the athletes. In addition, athletes scored higher in the three factors of Obsessive - Compulsive Disorder, Other Factors, and Interpersonal Sensitivity, which need to be attended to by Chinese college bridge practitioners.