[M T]

Suicide rates are up across the board, though not to the extent they appear to be with athletes. I'd guess the added pressure to perform on the field, court or pool adds to it, and to some extent bad behavior by coaches (see Teri McKeever). Bullying by coaches happens not just at the college level, either, and is a serious problem administrations don't appear to want to address.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/8273...s-by-year/

Why would one believe bullying, and bullying by coaches, is any more now than, say, 20 or 50 or 100 years ago?  My gut feeling is that it is far less now, but I have little basis for that feeling other than that we pay attention to it now so it would be weeded out sooner.

I can believe that the "I'm better than you; I'm special" attitude of athletes is less common now than in the past.  Does such an attitude buffer against suicide, and the lessening of it in athletes is contributing to their suicide rate climbing toward the higher rate in non-athletes?  I don't know.

I found the total numbers of suicides by athletes, as described in the study, to be lower than I expected.  Low enough that the stats seem to be only marginally appropriate. (The article (vs the study) suggested that the real numbers are higher, but I don't know that there was any suggestion that the actual-vs-reported ratio is higher in 2013-2022 than in 2002-2012.)  In the 21 years, there were 128 suicides.  Yes, 6 per year is 6 too many.  Then they break it down by gender, NCAA Division, and by sport.  They're slicing it pretty thin....


I closely deal with the young children of two young single mothers that died apparently due to fentanyl in the last 1.5 years.  Suicide is not the only tragedy that affects young adults.

[M T]

Suicide rates are up across the board, though not to the extent they appear to be with athletes. I'd guess the added pressure to perform on the field, court or pool adds to it, and to some extent bad behavior by coaches (see Teri McKeever). Bullying by coaches happens not just at the college level, either, and is a serious problem administrations don't appear to want to address.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/8273...s-by-year/

Why would one believe bullying, and bullying by coaches, is any more now than, say, 20 or 50 or 100 years ago?  My gut feeling is that it is far less now, but I have little basis for that feeling other than that we pay attention to it now so it would be weeded out sooner.

I can believe that the "I'm better than you; I'm special" attitude of athletes is less common now than in the past.  Does such an attitude buffer against suicide, and the lessening of it in athletes is contributing to their suicide rate climbing toward the higher rate in non-athletes?  I don't know.

I found the total numbers of suicides by athletes, as described in the study, to be lower than I expected.  Low enough that the stats seem to be only marginally appropriate. (The article (vs the study) suggested that the real numbers are higher, but I don't know that there was any suggestion that the actual-vs-reported ratio is higher in 2013-2022 than in 2002-2012.)  In the 21 years, there were 128 suicides.  Yes, 6 per year is 6 too many.  Then they break it down by gender, NCAA Division, and by sport.  They're slicing it pretty thin....


I closely deal with the young children of two young single mothers that died apparently due to fentanyl in the last 1.5 years.  Suicide is not the only tragedy that affects young adults.