Favorable Adaptation during SARS-CoV-2-Pandemic as Told by Student-Athletes—A Longitudinal and Behavioral Study

Urban Johnson (), Krister Hertting, Andreas Ivarsson and Eva-Carin Lindgren
Additional contact information
Urban Johnson: School of Health and Welfare, Halmstad University, SE-30118 Halmstad, Sweden
Krister Hertting: School of Health and Welfare, Halmstad University, SE-30118 Halmstad, Sweden
Andreas Ivarsson: School of Health and Welfare, Halmstad University, SE-30118 Halmstad, Sweden
Eva-Carin Lindgren: School of Health and Welfare, Halmstad University, SE-30118 Halmstad, Sweden

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 19, 1-16

Abstract: (1) Background: The aim was to explore the impact of adaptive responses (resilience factors) on student-athletes’ behaviors during a stressful period of life during the SARS-CoV-2-pandemic of 2020 and 2021. (2) Methods: A constructivist-based grounded theory (CGT) was used guided by a biopsychosocial approach. Based on purposeful sampling, 22 male and female student-athletes were divided into four focus group interviews (FGI) seven months after the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2-pandemic (October 2020) and 18 of these were followed up by FGI seven months later (May 2021). The mean age was 17.65 and they represented golf and handball. (3) Results: The CGT contained four main categories seven months after the SARS-CoV-2-pandemic outbreak: Social support, Self-discipline, Physical practice and recovery and Management of everyday life. Fourteen months after the SARS-CoV-2-pandemic outbreak, four additional main categories emerged: More extensive social support, Belief in the future, Self-awareness and Responsibility and problem-solving. (4) Conclusions: The CTG suggests that student-athletes’ favorable adaptations to the stressful SARS-CoV-2-pandemic period 2020–2021 are based on a gradually developed ability to take responsibility for one’s own actions, insight into the importance of deepened social interaction, belief in a positive post-COVID future and increased awareness of physical activity and its relation to perceived health.

Keywords: resilience; corona mental health; focus group interviews; youth athletes; biopsychosocial approach; SARS-CoV-2-pandemic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/19/12512/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/19/12512/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:19:p:12512-:d:930659

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().