Institutions of higher education are among the sectors of society that are focusing more attention on happiness (psychological well-being) in recent years (Cockell & McArthur-Blair, 2012; Mather & Hulme, 2013). The reasons for such a focus are numerous but ultimately pertain to helping develop healthy, productive, and thriving students (Mather & Hulme, 2013). Among college students, emotional health is at its lowest point in three decades as nearly 10 percent of the 2014 freshman class that responded to the American Freshman Survey indicated they “frequently felt depressed” which is 3.4 percentage points higher than in 2009 (New, 2015). The 2015 NCAA GOALS data highlights similar concerns among student-athletes, with about 30 percent self-reporting that they have been intractably overwhelmed during the past month. This proposal seeks funding to explore research on psychological well-being related to the UNCW student-athlete population.
