The influence of Team Cohesion on mental health outcomes in athletes: a study of psychological adaptation

Athletes' Mental health (MH) is identified as an essential part of sport performance and overall well-being. Among numerous psychological antecedents, Team Cohesion (TC) is viewed as a key indicator of good MH outcomes. The research investigates TC to become an experience and its impact on MH in athletes, which is explained in reference to Psychological Adaptation (PA) and engagement in Sport Participation (SP). The design was quasi-experimental with a pre- and post-test comparison of two groups: the experimental group that underwent a 6-week structured TC intervention, and the control group normal training. The causal effect of the intervention was determined by the determination of the pre- and post-levels of MH and PA. The researchers used 474 university students (237 athletes, 237 non-athletes) who were aged between 18 and 25 years as the study population. Data analysis was done by using SPSS, and ANCOVA and mediation analyses were done to test the group differences, as well as intra-group functioning. In general, the results established that as TC improved, Mental Well-Being (MWB) among the athletes improved. The level of psychological acceptance was higher among participants who were involved in the team sport as opposed to those who played individual sport. Psychological acceptance mediated the relationship between sport type and MWB. In addition, the longer that someone participated in their sport, the more positive the effect on psychological acceptance, while the overall cohesion was negatively correlated with stress and depression. The study's uniqueness centers around assessing the conjoint effects of TC, type, and time of SP, and psychological acceptance on athlete MWB.