Emotions, Mental Health and Sport Performance

Xinyu Ou

Department of Applied Science, McMaster University, Hamilton, L8S 3K4, Canada

Keywords: Emotions, Mental Health, Sport Psychology, Sport Performance.

Abstract: Performance in sports has always been the most important thing that athletes and coaches value, but they

usually ignore the impact of individual factor. This research focused on studying how emotions and mental

health impact athletes’ performance. This study reviewed past research on emotions and mental health and

their relationship with performance. Emotion includes positive and negative emotions, and they are integrated

within an individual. How athletes perceive emotions will affect their performance, and learning to regulate

emotions is an essential lesson to learn for athletes. Negative emotion is negatively correlated with sport

performance. Positive emotion has no straightforward correlation with performance, but it can enhance well-

being and further improve performance. Mental health problems have been one of the main concerns among

athletes, especially for competitive and elite athletes. Mental illness is usually caused by abuse, maltreatment,

stigmatization, etc., and can cause athletes to perform poorly and cause serious issues such as anxiety and

suicide. Repeating tasks can cause mental fatigue. Fatigue reduces cognitive perception and further affects

sport performance. Because of athletes’ unique identities, it is important for coaches to pay more attention to

athletes’ mental state and help to prevent mental illness and maintain stable emotions.

1 INTRODUCTION

Performance is a primary focus for coaches and

athletes striving to improve throughout their careers.

However, they often overlook the underlying factors

that influence sport performance and the potential

consequences of neglecting them. Emotion and

mental health are two of the most crucial factors

influencing athletes’ performance. This research

focused on how emotions and mental health could

impact athletes’ performance, and what coaches and

psychologists can do to help athletes to maintain

physical and mental health and improve sport

performance. This study researched past studies and

analyzed the data and results.

Researchers and psychologists have been

studying and defining emotion, but emotions are too

heterogeneous to have a specific definition. Emotion

involves physiological responses and can be

expressed through body language and facial

expression, and it also enhances movement in

muscles and viscera(McCarthy, 2011). Past research

showed that positive and negative emotions had a low

significant correlation with sport performance, but

they can affect an individual’s well-being, which is

closely connected with sport performance(Peris-

Delcampo et al., 2024).

Mental health is an individual’s overall health and

well-being, and it is complex and related to people’s

performance throughout life. Poor mental health can

lead to mental and physical illness and cause anxiety,

stress, mental disorders, etc.(Slingerland et al., 2019).

Athletes might develop mental illness due to injury,

retirement, stress, abuse, maltreatment, and

stigmatization, and it usually takes a long period for

athletes to recover. Besides, athletes live and practice

under unique circumstances, and it is less likely for

them to reach out to psychologists or therapists,

which makes it harder to prevent and recover from

mental illness(Prior et al., 2024).

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Impact of Emotion on Performance

in Sports

Several studies have been conducted to study the

relationship between sports performance and

emotions in different areas and aspects, including

positive emotion, emotion regulation, personal and

social identities, motivation, perfectionism, well-

being, etc.(McCarthy, 2011, Peris-Delcampo et al.,

2024, Campo et al., 2018, Jekauc et al., 2021, Stoeber

Ou, X.

Emotions, Mental Health and Sport Performance.

DOI: 10.5220/0014113800004942

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Applied Psychology and Marketing Management (APMM 2025), pages 351-356

ISBN: 978-989-758-791-7

351

2011, Wagstaff, 2014). Jekauc, Fritsch, and

Latinjak’s research aimed to study the effect of

emotions in competitive sports, which are sports with

high-level performance that the athlete’s performance

is likely to be more affected by emotions. It was stated

that in past emotional research, problems were raised

due to the unclear use of words, such as mood and

emotions. They suggested that separating the core

effect from full-fledged emotions was essential to

better understanding emotion. The core effect is a 2-

dimensional valuation of something pleasant or

unpleasant, activated or not. It is the heart of emotion,

which initiates and develops emotion. The effect of

full-fledged emotion is slower compared to the core

effect, and it does not create emotion. Instead, it helps

individuals to learn the lessons from emotions and

situations by redirecting their attention. However,

full-fledged emotion can cause individuals to receive

more unpleasant emotions when elaborating deeply

on the situation. There is evidence showing that

arousal and performance have a U-shaped

relationship, and arousal can affect the perception of

emotion. On the other hand, somatic anxiety and sport

performance also have a U-shaped relationship

according to the multidimensional anxiety

theory(Yerkes & Dodson, 1908). Besides, Cognitive

anxiety has a negative correlation with performance.

From past studies, they have developed a cycle of

emotion with six components that are interconnected:

triggering processes, physiological reactions, action

tendencies, expressive behaviours, subjective

experience, and higher cognitive processes. They

studied each of the components’ effects on sport

performance and found out that the relationship

between emotion and performance is complex and

reciprocal. The performance and outcome could

trigger the process of emotion, and emotions could

also affect the athlete’s performance(Jekauc et al.,

2021).

From the evidence given, they concluded that

focusing on earlier possible triggering components

could establish stronger emotional stability.

However, the affective processes are extremely

dependent on the variety of sports. Some sports

require a high level of force and aggression, such as

football, boxing, and rugby. Some other sports

require a high level of concentration, such as golf and

darts. Therefore, it more depended on the athletes’

physical or mental needs in a specific sport, and it

would be the sports psychologist’s job to choose the

best plan for athletes. Another key component is

emotion regulation, which can play a significant role

in performance, especially since sports seasons last a

long period. Therefore, introducing emotion

regulation and the emotion cycle to the field of sport

is essential, not only to increase the athlete’s

performance but also to prevent any emergency

problems throughout their career(Jekauc et al., 2021).

One of the most common topics researched is

positive emotion. A study conducted a systemic

review of the relationships between positive emotion,

well-being, and sports performance using PRISMA

(Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews).

The researchers collected studies between 2000 and

2023 from Web of Science and PsycINFO databases.

They found that positive emotion did not exist by

itself and is integrated with negative emotions, and

other positive factors played a role in sports

performance, such as well-being(Peris-Delcampo et

al., 2024). This data is limited since it was collected

only from two databases, and the keywords selected

were not specific enough. Well-being includes many

aspects, such as optimism and positive mood, and that

affects and biases the results.

Psychologists are consistently shifting their focus

from how to solve negative emotions to how to

increase positive emotions. McCarthy conducted his

research on positive emotion in sport performance,

and he stated that positive emotions have not been

studied in the sports field, and it has a significant

potential to improve athlete’s

performance(McCarthy, 2011). As mentioned earlier,

the competitiveness of sports will dramatically

increase the athlete’s emotion, and that is one of the

reasons why an athlete’s performance in practice is

sometimes better than in an actual game. In other

words, athletes develop competitive anxiety when it

comes to competition. Later studies discovered that

emotion only has a short-term effect, and it acts with

other performance components, such as motivation.

Evidence showed that negative emotions usually lead

athletes in their performance, that they are either

motivated to perform better or give up. However,

there are more positive emotions at athletes’ peak

performance. Negative emotions can cause stress, but

the right amount of somatic stress can motivate

athletes. Positive emotions can broaden attention and

increase flexibility and efficiency. Therefore, both

negative and positive emotions do not exist alone,

rather, they work together and can result in

performance improvement. Other evidence also

shows a significant positive correlation between the

passion or enjoyment of the sport and the duration and

participation in the sport. They also concluded that

positive emotion catalyzes sport

performance(McCarthy, 2011).

Social factors play an important role in the

relationship between emotion and performance.

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Campo and others conducted a study on social

identity in the context of team sports, and they

collected six semi-professional elite volleyball

athletes. The participants watched the recorded game

and were asked to complete a self-report survey

afterward. The survey includes four aspects: pleasant

emotion, unpleasant emotion, individual emotion,

and emotion as a team. The experimenter also asked

three elite volleyball coaches to watch the recorded

match and evaluate each player’s performance. Then,

the experimenter used the Social Identity Approach

(SIA) to measure the athletes’ personal and social

identities. The result shows that athletes with higher

social identities will perform better within the team.

However, athletes will experience more than one

identity during the competition, personal or social.

Data shows that there is no correlation between social

identity and emotion, but personal identity can be a

predictor of negative emotions. In other words, there

is a significant negative correlation between group

cooperation and negative emotions(Campo et al.,

2018). For the limitation of the study, there are many

alternative explanations in this experiment, such as

age and gender. There were only a few participants

studied, and they were all males. There might be other

confounding variables that might affect the athletes’

performance, including academics, mood, etc.

There are more studies conducted on other

interesting aspects, such as perfectionism and

emotion regulation. In Stoeber’s study, he stated that

perfectionism is negatively correlated with sports

performance due to evidence given that athletes

cannot perform at their peak performance every time.

However, perfectionism strivings can enhance

improvement in sports performance, confidence, and

positive emotions(Stoeber, 2011).

Emotion regulation is also one of the topics that

has been studied repeatedly. Wagstaff conducted an

experiment studying how emotion regulation can

affect sports performance, including suppression,

self-control, etc. Results show that athletes’

performance decreases when they are suppressed,

including less maximum heart rate, slower speed,

more exertion, etc.(Wagstaff, 2014). A strong and

stable emotion is fundamental for athletes to perform

better.

2.2 Impact of Mental Health on

Performance in Sports

Mental health has become one of the main concerns

in sports, and evidence has shown that more issues of

mental health are rising among athletes across

cultures and nations. It is essential for athletes to be

healthy both physically and mentally, especially for

high-performance sports and elite athletes

(Slingerland et al., 2019, Prior, 2024, Schinke et al.,

2021, Donohue et al., 2018, Russell et al., 2019).

Mental illness in sports could be caused for many

reasons, including relationships between teammates

and coaches, loneliness, unsafe and unhealthy

environments, stress with age and physical health,

injury, etc. However, it is hard to detect mental illness

in athletes due to the evidence that athletes are less

likely to ask for help(Schinke et al., 2021).

In Schinke and others’ research, they focused on

the impact of an unsafe environment on athletes’

mental health. Athlete treatment is essential and most

effective in avoiding or solving mental issues,

including safeguarding, sports policies, etc.(Schinke

et al., 2021). However, there were several media

showed that many athletes and coaches had been

maltreated. Due to the difference between cultures

and nations, maltreatments are inevitable. Even

though the national sports systems were trying to

develop ways to protect athletes, the solutions were

not sufficient. Schinke and others studied how to deal

with mental health in high-performance athletes and

environments, focusing on safety. The authors invited

international experts from four continents to solve the

cultural differences issue and share their knowledge

and work. The researchers and experts studied

teenagers and adults separately due to significant

physical and mental differences caused by

development. It showed that there were more issues

with maltreatment among teenagers and adults, and it

was affecting and reducing their mental health and

performance(Schinke et al., 2021).

Schinke suggested using occupational health and

safety (OHS) to help solve the issues of performance

due to mental problems. The OHS focuses on the

relationship between the workplace and the

employee’s well-being and safety. It aims to enhance

hazard prevention and health promotion to create a

safe environment for the athletes, coaches, Olympic

employees, etc. The researchers stated that athletes

who felt safe psychically and psychologically would

be more concentrated on self-development and goals.

Evidence shows that individuals experience less

stress within a safe and healthy environment, which

leads to better performance(Schinke et al., 2021). One

of the main reasons for mistreatment was that the

leaders lacked management ability. It could cause

miscommunication, inadaptability, poor

relationships, untrustworthiness, etc., and therefore,

the employees lack responsibility for their jobs,

which leads to an unsafe environment for athletes and

coaches. One of the most effective solutions was

Emotions, Mental Health and Sport Performance

353

comprehensive safety training to increase employees’

awareness of possible dangers. Preventing injury

could also help the prevention of developing mental

illness. It is much more important to prioritize the

prevention of mental illness in athletes than to focus

solely on addressing it after it has already

developed(Schinke et al., 2021).

In Canada, many athletes stood out and bravely

shared their experiences with mental illness,

including depression, anxiety, suicide, etc. Around

20% of Canadian athletes experience mental illness

annually, which is about 1.4 million athletes, which

has made the Canadian Centre for Mental Health and

Sport (CCMHS) pay more attention to addressing

mental health. The CCMHS developed a

Participatory Action Research approach (PAR) to try

to solve mental illness for competitive athletes. One

of the main approaches was to build a common

language between sports and mental health

communities. A common language helps to

communicate and exchange values, and it could be

used to reduce stigmatization, which was one of the

main causes of mental illness in athletes(Slingerland

et al., 2019).

Athletes experience unique stresses due to the

environment they live in, but only a few mental health

interventions were developed for athletes. The

Optimum Performance Program in Sports (TOPPS)

was developed based on Positive Psychology and

Family Behaviour Therapy (FBT), it aimed to reduce

substance use and mental health issues in youth and

adults. It tended to help to optimize individuals’

cognitive and behavioural skills to increase

performance in sports and life and maintain mental

wellness by minimizing social stigma. Donohue and

others conducted their research comparing the

TOPPS and counselling services as usual (SAU)

using a controlled clinical trial methodology. There

were some requirements when selecting participants:

they had to be participating in sports, not receiving

any psychotherapy services actively, and able to stay

through the 8-month experiment, etc. Seventy-four

participants were qualified, with an average of 21

years old, but 11 participants dropped out during the

experiment. Around half of the participants were

female, almost half of the participants were

Caucasian (41%), and most of the participants were

single. The participants were randomly assigned to

the TOPPS (n=38) or SAU (n=36), and the data were

measured at the beginning, 4 months after treatment,

and 8 months after treatment. Performance was

measured with digital audio recordings by experts and

coaches. In the overall scores, participants who

received the TOPPS had significantly larger scores

than those who received SAU. The experimenters

also had interviews with each participant at different

measures of time. Participants in the SAU had neutral

or negative feedback when measured at the 4 months,

but they improved after 8 months, and most feedback

was neutral or positive. Participants in the TOPPS all

had positive feedback and reported overall better

mental health and performance in competition and

training. TOPPS also tended to decrease substance

use for athletes(Donohue et al., 2018).

Due to the several requirements for participants,

only around 100 athletes were qualified, and the long

duration of the experiment caused a high dropout rate.

Besides, the skill level among athletes was not equal,

which could cause alternative explanations(Donohue

et al., 2018).

Another mental health problem that could affect

sport performance is mental fatigue. Russell and

others conducted a literature review on past research

on mental fatigue and sport performance within a

team. Fatigue could be caused both physically and

mentally, and it could cause a decrease in the

maximum performance potential and reduce

cognitive perception. Evidence shows that different

sports might have different degrees of fatigue.

Therefore, different tasks should be applied

depending on the variety of sports. Managing mental

fatigue could significantly increase athletes’

performance, especially in elite sports, where the

outcome could be affected by very small

decisions(Russell et al., 2019).

A study conducted by Prior and others researched

the relationship between mental health and

performance from a unique perspective. They invited

11 performance directors and had semi-structured

interviews with them to discuss the mental health of

elite athletes and how they have managed these

issues. Performance directors mainly focus on

directing athletes to increase their performance

physically, such as fixing movement or body

structure. Due to the specialty of athletes’ identity,

they are more likely to experience mental health

disorders from injury, stressors from performing and

coaches, retirement, etc. Poor environments such as

maltreatment, abuse, negative media and social

environment all tend to increase the possibility of

mental illness. The researchers concluded with two

aspects for the performance directors to understand

these problems: 1) the understanding of mental health

and 2) experiences with managing and supporting

mental health and illness(Prior et al., 2024).

The experimenter used purposive sampling and

found 11 performance directors, present or retired,

including one female and ten males, from 37 to 62

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years old, with an average of 47 years. Their

experiences vary from 4 to 24 years, with an average

of 10 years. Ten performance directors were from the

United Kingdom, and one was from Denmark. There

were 11 kinds of sports involved: three were based on

team sports, and eight were with individual sports.

The interview was developed with open-ended

questions. Sample questions include: what does

mental health mean to you? What role did you play

between athletes and mental health? What is your

suggestion on the future of mental health in sports?

etc.(Prior et al., 2024).

The results showed that performance directors

lacked an understanding of mental health, which did

not pay enough attention to mental health and led to

mental illness. The researchers concluded that the

performance directors should pay more attention to

environmental and cultural factors. Creating a safe

and comfortable environment for athletes could

enhance communication, and athletes would be more

willing to seek help. Coaches and employees should

be more sensitive to athletes’ mental health since

recovering from mental illness will take much longer

than developing it(Prior et al., 2024).

Since almost all of the performance directors were

from the UK, there should be more research

conducted in the future based on different cultural

backgrounds. Only one performance director was

female, which reflected the lack of balance in the field

of performance directing.

Mental health problems have been rising and have

become one of the main concerns among athletes and

coaches. It is essential for athletes to stay healthy

mentally and physically, and coaches also need to pay

more attention to prevent mental illness among

teenagers.

3 DISCUSSION

The relationship between sport performance,

emotion, and mental health is a dynamic and

multifaceted area of study, and understanding this

relationship is essential for athletes and coaches to

improve their performance.

Emotions play an essential role in determining

performance, especially in elite and competitive

sports. Positive emotions can enhance well-being and

improve athletes’ performance, but positive emotions

do not exist alone. Positive emotion is integrated with

negative emotion, and competition will amplify the

athlete’s emotions. Athletes can develop competition

anxiety during a match if they are unable to manage

their emotions, but it only has a short-term effect, and

it is usually connected with other performance

components such as motivation. It is important for

athletes to perceive their own emotions correctly and

mindful since positive and negative emotions have

totally different impacts on performances. Emotion

regulation is extremely important for athletes.

The effects of emotion depend on the variety of

sports. Different sports require different skills,

including teamwork, strength, concentration, etc., and

the process can enhance different emotions of

athletes. Therefore, coaches play an important role in

creating plans that best fit the athletes to maximize

performance and bring out their potential. Another

common misunderstanding in sport performance is

perfectionism. Perfectionism is negatively correlated

with sport performance since it is impossible for

athletes to perform at their peak state every time, and

it can lead to stress and anxiety. Even though it does

motivate athletes to perform better, it can also lead to

fatigue in the long run.

Mental health is the foundation of sustained sport

performance. Athletes are usually under high

pressure, and in a unique environment, they are less

likely to detect mental illness and reach out for help.

Mental illness can be caused by various aspects,

including injury, poor relationships, loneliness, etc.,

and can lead to poor performance. Failure to provide

a safe and healthy environment has caused

untrustworthiness, miscommunication, etc., reduced

athletes’ performance dramatically, and caused

stress, anxiety, and even suicide. Many poor sports

policies and systems have caused maltreatment for

both youth and adult athletes, which causes

stigmatization and is extremely harmful to their

mental health. It was suggested to build a common

language between athletes, coaches, audiences, etc.,

to reduce stigmatization. The understanding between

them helps to enhance communication and support

and further can build a strong base for performance

and mental health. Other negativities such as abuse,

negative media and social environment all tend to

increase the possibility of mental illness, and most

coaches and performance directors ignore these

factors in practice. Especially when teenagers are still

developing both mentally and physically, they are

more sensitive to outside forces and more easily

develop mental illness.

Another problem among elite athletes is mental

fatigue. The high-pressure and high-intensity training

takes most of the time, and the repeated tasks can

cause lower arousal and reduce cognitive perception.

Athletes might perceive knowledge while in the

fatigue state and bring the fatigue to the competition,

Emotions, Mental Health and Sport Performance

355

which was at the minimum performance, and it is

hard to replace what they have learned.

As the field of psychology is consistently

developing, there is a specific sport psychology field

for athletes and coaches. It is essential for sports

teams to introduce sport psychologist to the team to

help athletes manage emotional and mental states,

motivate athletes, and improve athletes’ performance.

Besides, it is extremely important to prevent mental

illness for athletes before it is developed since it is

hard and takes a long period to treat mental illness.

4 CONCLUSION

The relationship between sport performance,

emotion, and mental health underscores the

importance of addressing psychological and

emotional factors in sports. Positive and negative

emotions are interconnected, and both affect athletes’

performance. Emotion regulation is essential for

athletes to manage their emotions well, which helps

them maintain good relationships and positive

attitudes and focus on performing well. It is also

important to prevent mental illness for athletes and

strengthen the foundation of mental health. Coaches

and staff members need to work together to create a

safe and healthy environment for athletes to live and

practice in and protect athletes from abuse and

maltreatment. Sports psychologists are essential for

sports teams, especially athletes, to motivate them,

help with stress and anxiety, and prevent mental

illness. Performance in sports does not just depend on

athletes’ physical appearance and strength; it is also

important for athletes to have adaptive emotion

regulation strategies and a healthy mindset.

To improve performance, athletes need to

establish a strong emotional base, the ability to

regulate emotions, and increase knowledge of mental

health and wellness. Coaches and staff members need

to create a safe and healthy environment for athletes

and protect them from outside forces that might harm

athletes physically or mentally. Sport psychologists

are also becoming essential for sports teams to

motivate athletes, prevent mental disorders or illness,

and increase overall well-being and performance.

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