Latent profiles of mental health, stress and burnout among athletes

Background The competitive sports environment exposes athletes to numerous sources of stress. Achieving athletic goals also requires long-term and wholehearted dedication, which may increase the risk of mental health problems. Using three indicators of mental health-psychological distress, stress, and burnout-this study employed latent profile analysis (LPA) to identify distinct mental health risk groups among athletes and examine their characteristics. Methods This study employed a cross-sectional survey design and recruited 400 athletes from three national competitions. After excluding invalid questionnaires, 354 athletes were included in the final analysis. Data were collected using the General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12), Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ), College Student-Athletes' Life Stress (CSALSS), and a sociodemographic questionnaire. We used Mplus 8.3 to conduct LPA and identify distinct mental health risk profiles among different subgroups of athletes. Findings (1) LPA identified three groups based on a mental health risk gradient: a low-risk group (28.5%), a medium-risk group (44.9%), and a high-risk group (26.6%). The high-risk group showed higher levels of psychological distress, perceived stress, and athlete burnout. (2) The positive detection rate based on the GHQ-12 was 50.28%, whereas 26.6% of athletes were classified into the high-risk profile in the LPA. The two rates differed to some extent. (3) Athletes' mental health risk was positively associated with perceived stress and athlete burnout. As the profile level increased, scores for perceived stress, athlete burnout, and psychological distress also increased. (4) Compared with the medium-risk group, athletes who trained more days per week had significantly lower odds of being classified into the high-risk profile (OR = 0.547, p = 0.032). Age, years of training, daily training duration, and gender were not significant predictors. Conclusion This study identified three mental health risk profiles among athletes through a multidimensional assessment of psychological distress, stress, and burnout, describing the mental health risk characteristics of athletes from multiple perspectives. Mental health risks among athletes showed a continuous distribution, with the medium-risk group accounting for the largest proportion. Across the three profiles, psychological distress, stress, and burnout showed similar patterns of change. The results based on the GHQ-12 differed to some extent from those identified by the LPA. Compared with the medium-risk group, athletes who trained more days per week had significantly lower odds of being classified into the high-risk group. These findings provide a reference for future research on assessing mental health risks among athletes.