When college athletes struggle with mental health challenges, the decision to seek professional help may depend more on parental influence than that of coaches or teammates, according to a new study led by Michigan State University Assistant Professor Jeemin Kim.
Published in the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology in April 2025, scholars surveyed 290 student-athletes from universities in the U.S. and Canada. Kim and co-author Katherine A. Tamminen (University of Toronto) sought to understand how social norms – what athletes perceive others around them do or believe – relate to their own willingness to seek mental health support.
“The biggest surprise for me was that parental influence came out as the most statistically significant factor,” said Kim, whose research centers on how social norms shape human behavior. “Even though these students are legally adults, we found that what they think their parents would do about mental health impacts their own intentions to seek help.”
The study looked at two types of social norms: what athletes think others actually do, and what they think others believe they should do.
While student-athletes spend much of their time with coaches and teammates, the study found that their perceived coach and teammate behaviors did not directly influence an athlete’s decision to seek professional mental health support. Instead, their influence may be more indirect – potentially shaping athletes’ broader attitudes or perceptions of stigma related to mental health.
A 2020 study examined how student-athletes disclose psychological distress to coaches — work that laid the foundation for Kim's current research on how broader social norms, especially parental influence, shape help-seeking behavior.
Kim emphasized that the findings do not indicate coaches and teammates are not influential for all athletes; instead, the results reflect overall patterns in the data and may not apply equally to every individual or team environment.
A culture of pressure
College athletes often face a unique set of stressors beyond those of their non-athlete peers, according to Kim: rigorous training schedules, performance pressure, travel, injuries and increasing media scrutiny to name a few.
“Athletes are under a spotlight,” he said. “Many are 18 or 19 years old, trying to compete at high levels while also building their futures. And all of this is happening under the weight of public expectation and oftentimes criticism.”
Adding to the burden, athletes often internalize harmful norms around strength and toughness.
"There’s a perception that showing any kind of mental health vulnerability might be seen as weakness,” Kim explained. “Some athletes fear their playing time could be at risk if they open up to coaches about psychological struggles.”
Policy and practice implications
The findings suggest a potential blind spot in how mental health resources are promoted to student-athletes. While schools often promote team-based support, the research highlights the continued influence of families — even from a distance.
“Many athletes are still on their parents’ health insurance or look to their parents as role models,” Kim said. “If they see their parents being open to counseling or other mental health services, they might be more likely to see that behavior as normal and acceptable.”
Kim encourages colleges to consider more family-inclusive approaches when developing mental health initiatives. “We tend to think of college students as completely independent,” he said, “but this study shows that parental norms still matter — and they could be leveraged to improve outcomes.”
Kim presented his work at the 2025 Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology (SCAPPS) and is planning follow-up studies examining how social norms affect other health behaviors.