Assessment of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on emotional and nutritional status of university athletes

Abstract

Background and Study Aim. The current study was carried out to analyze the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the emotional state and nutritional behavior of university athletes. Material and Methods. This research was carried out during the first wave of COVID-19 in Turkey. A total of 334 (162 female and 172 male) athletes who are undergraduate students in the faculties of sports sciences of universities participated in the study. Their mean age was 21.46 ± 3.7. The Emotional Eating Scale (EES) was used to determine the nutritional behavior of the participants and The Profile of Mood States (POMS) scale was used to determine their emotional state. The Chi-square and Cross-tabulation tests were used for the statistical analysis of categorical variables. Mann Whitney U test was used for the analysis of continuous variables, and Spearman Sequence Correlation test protocols were used for correlation analysis. Results. The results of the statistical analysis revealed that there was a significant increase in the amount of fluid consumption of elite athletes. There was a significant relationship between negative mood and emotional eating sub-assessment (p <0.05). However, it was found that there was no significant difference between total and subscale scores of amateur and elite athletes (p >0.05). Conclusion. As a result of the research, it was seen that elite and amateur athletes did not have a significant difference in emotional eating and mood status, except for the amount of fluid consumption. The increase in negative emotions of university athletes is an important factor that increased their emotional eating behavior.