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What is an athlete's psychological well-being? Constructing concepts with Olympic and Paralympic athletes

Lisa Trainor Orcid Logo, Andrea Bundon Orcid Logo, Ross Wadey, Guy Faulkner, Peter. R. E. Crocker

Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, Volume: 17, Issue: 4, Pages: 277 - 295

Swansea University Author: Lisa Trainor Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1080/2159676x.2025.2465423

Abstract

Although psychological well-being (PWB) in athletes is receiving increased scrutiny, there is some confusion about what constitutes PWB in elite sport. Psychological well-being (eudaimonia) is associated with purpose, growth, and fulfilling one’s potentials (Aristotle, 4c BCE, 1985); however, there...

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Published in: Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health
ISSN: 2159-676X 2159-6778
Published: Informa UK Limited 2025
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa69358
first_indexed 2025-04-25T13:57:55Z
last_indexed 2025-07-15T05:11:35Z
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spelling 2025-07-14T12:07:15.0090929 v2 69358 2025-04-25 What is an athlete's psychological well-being? Constructing concepts with Olympic and Paralympic athletes e63eba5df2e4d1dd243e06bb2146cb44 0000-0002-5472-1394 Lisa Trainor Lisa Trainor true false 2025-04-25 EAAS Although psychological well-being (PWB) in athletes is receiving increased scrutiny, there is some confusion about what constitutes PWB in elite sport. Psychological well-being (eudaimonia) is associated with purpose, growth, and fulfilling one’s potentials (Aristotle, 4c BCE, 1985); however, there are limitations in the conceptual clarity of PWB, and in the context of elite sport global frameworks of PWB have been used to study context-specific (athlete) PWB. Important research questions remain as there is little understanding of what constitutes athlete PWB. The objective of this study was to explore contextually relevant components of athlete PWB and to gain insight on the make-up of athlete PWB. Semi-structured interviews and photograph elicitation were employed at two time points with 26 athletes (7 Paralympic; 19 Olympic) from four countries (Canada; Great Britain; Australia; New Zealand), and the data were analysed using a reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2019). Eight components of sport-specific PWB were constructed to represent athletes’ understandings of PWB in elite sport. The eight components included sport-confidence and self-worth; personal balance; aligned purpose; fulfillment; performance; personal agency; psychologically safe relationships; and psychological adaptability. Developed through an interpretive theoretical process, these components maintain the core aspects of eudaimonia but extend to highlight the contextually relevant components of sport-specific PWB. This provides a more meaningful and applicable representation of athletes’ experiences of PWB. Journal Article Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health 17 4 277 295 Informa UK Limited 2159-676X 2159-6778 eudaimonic well-being; psychological well-being; athlete well-being; wellbeing; elite athletes 4 7 2025 2025-07-04 10.1080/2159676x.2025.2465423 COLLEGE NANME Engineering and Applied Sciences School COLLEGE CODE EAAS Swansea University This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [Doctoral Fellowship]. 2025-07-14T12:07:15.0090929 2025-04-25T14:53:13.4734903 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Sport and Exercise Sciences Lisa Trainor 0000-0002-5472-1394 1 Andrea Bundon 0000-0002-6287-4788 2 Ross Wadey 3 Guy Faulkner 4 Peter. R. E. Crocker 5
title What is an athlete's psychological well-being? Constructing concepts with Olympic and Paralympic athletes
spellingShingle What is an athlete's psychological well-being? Constructing concepts with Olympic and Paralympic athletes
Lisa Trainor
title_short What is an athlete's psychological well-being? Constructing concepts with Olympic and Paralympic athletes
title_full What is an athlete's psychological well-being? Constructing concepts with Olympic and Paralympic athletes
title_fullStr What is an athlete's psychological well-being? Constructing concepts with Olympic and Paralympic athletes
title_full_unstemmed What is an athlete's psychological well-being? Constructing concepts with Olympic and Paralympic athletes
title_sort What is an athlete's psychological well-being? Constructing concepts with Olympic and Paralympic athletes
author_id_str_mv e63eba5df2e4d1dd243e06bb2146cb44
author_id_fullname_str_mv e63eba5df2e4d1dd243e06bb2146cb44_***_Lisa Trainor
author Lisa Trainor
author2 Lisa Trainor
Andrea Bundon
Ross Wadey
Guy Faulkner
Peter. R. E. Crocker
format Journal article
container_title Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health
container_volume 17
container_issue 4
container_start_page 277
publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
issn 2159-676X
2159-6778
doi_str_mv 10.1080/2159676x.2025.2465423
publisher Informa UK Limited
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Sport and Exercise Sciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Sport and Exercise Sciences
document_store_str 0
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description Although psychological well-being (PWB) in athletes is receiving increased scrutiny, there is some confusion about what constitutes PWB in elite sport. Psychological well-being (eudaimonia) is associated with purpose, growth, and fulfilling one’s potentials (Aristotle, 4c BCE, 1985); however, there are limitations in the conceptual clarity of PWB, and in the context of elite sport global frameworks of PWB have been used to study context-specific (athlete) PWB. Important research questions remain as there is little understanding of what constitutes athlete PWB. The objective of this study was to explore contextually relevant components of athlete PWB and to gain insight on the make-up of athlete PWB. Semi-structured interviews and photograph elicitation were employed at two time points with 26 athletes (7 Paralympic; 19 Olympic) from four countries (Canada; Great Britain; Australia; New Zealand), and the data were analysed using a reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2019). Eight components of sport-specific PWB were constructed to represent athletes’ understandings of PWB in elite sport. The eight components included sport-confidence and self-worth; personal balance; aligned purpose; fulfillment; performance; personal agency; psychologically safe relationships; and psychological adaptability. Developed through an interpretive theoretical process, these components maintain the core aspects of eudaimonia but extend to highlight the contextually relevant components of sport-specific PWB. This provides a more meaningful and applicable representation of athletes’ experiences of PWB.
published_date 2025-07-04T05:22:08Z
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