Mental Health Challenges Experienced by Collegiate Student-Athletes: A Descriptive Institutional Study in Northwestern Mindanao

Collegiate student-athletes manage simultaneous academic, athletic, psychological, and social demands, yet institution-specific evidence remains limited in Northwestern Mindanao. This descriptive quantitative study examined academic-athletic role strain, psychological need satisfaction, perceived mental health stigma, perceived social support, and self-reported mental health challenges among 150 student-athletes from an estimated institutional population of approximately 400. A 48-item researcher-developed questionnaire was informed by established theories and measures, reviewed by three subject-matter validators, and pilot tested with 50 student-athletes from other universities. Pilot-test Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranged from .76 to .85. Descriptive statistics showed moderate academic-athletic role strain (M = 2.92, SD = 0.70), with institutional expectations receiving the highest dimension mean; moderate psychological need satisfaction (M = 3.12, SD = 0.72), with relatedness highest and autonomy lowest; moderate perceived mental health stigma (M = 2.68, SD = 0.83); and high perceived social support (M = 3.26, SD = 0.64), led by teammate and coach support. Self-reported mental health challenges were moderate overall (M = 2.91, SD = 0.75), with stress and anxiety having the highest numerical means. The findings portray a setting in which strong athletic social networks coexist with moderate role strain, stigma, psychological-need satisfaction, and mental health challenges. Because the instrument was researcher-developed, the sample came from one institution, and the analysis was descriptive, the results should not be interpreted as clinical diagnoses, population prevalence estimates, or evidence of relationships or causation. The study provides baseline evidence for reviewing academic-athletic coordination, autonomy-supportive practices, mental health communication, counseling access, and referral pathways.