Preparing for Return to Play: Understanding the Impact of COVID-19 on the Well-Being of Community College Student-Athletes

Higher education institutions responded quickly to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The majority of the research conducted primarily focuses on understanding the well-being of collegiate athletes enrolled in 4-year institutions and neglects to address community college student-athletes unique population. This research examined the mental distress and concern among community college student-athletes in response to the pandemic (N = 242). The Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-Item Scale (GAD-7) and the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) assessed anxiety, indicating that gender and year of eligibility were related to perceived challenges, including social distancing, being away from teammates, and having proper academic resources. Significant findings also included differences among gender, race, and ethnicity regarding GAD and the CAS constructs. Concerns among participants regarding athletics and academics for the spring 2021 semester provided detailed responses addressing the desired programming they would like to receive from their campuses. Understanding these concerns is necessary to provide appropriate programming while navigating through this pandemic.