Int. J. Sport Health Sci.

Paper : Psychology

Impact of COVID-19 on Athletes’ Daily Lives and

Athletic Activities based on Their Individual
Characteristics
Rei Amemiya

Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8574, Japan
[email protected]

[Received November 13, 2020; Accepted November 30, 2022; Published online February 17, 2023]

This study investigates the relationship between the individual characteristics of athletes and
the perceived impact of COVID-19 on their daily lives and athletic activities. Participants
were 476 Japanese athletes (250 males and 226 females; mean age = 28.39 ± 6.53 years)
registered as respondents at an Internet research company and who met the athletic-related
inclusion criteria. The investigation took place from the 6 th–13th April 2020, just before the
Japanese government declared a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Partici-
pants answered questions related to socio-demographic variables, the impact of COVID-19 on
daily life and athletic activities and completed the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale. The
results showed that the emergency declaration area, marital status, and gender were directly
related to annual income, and that they indirectly influenced the impact of COVID-19 on
athletes’ daily lives and athletic activities through annual income. Additionally, although a
state of emergency being declared in the region impacted the daily lives of all participants
and their athletic activities, unmarried and female athletes with low incomes were among the
most affected by COVID-19-related measures.
Keywords: sports, COVID-19 infection, mental health, Japanese athletes, state of emergency declaration

1. Introduction As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, athletes

may find it difficult to continue with their athletic
The spread of COVID-19 and the impact of its practice or training schedules, and they may even
countermeasures have seriously affected not only the experience psychological problems and/or
general public but also athletes worldwide (Schinke et employment-related problems with affiliated organisa-
al., 2020ab). These measures have resulted in Olympic tions, which could lead to financial problems. Conse-
and Paralympic trials, qualifying meets, professional quently, the necessity to consider their well-being is
events, and even events for general athletes being being discussed globally (Hull et al., 2020). Since so
cancelled (e.g., International Olympic Committee, many athletes have been affected by COVID-19, it is
2020; Toresdahl and Asif, 2020). The postponement or critical to develop effective support systems by identi-
cancellation of sports events caused by the spread of fying the unique challenges and consequences faced
COVID-19 is expected to greatly impact the mental by athletes. Therefore, we must examine the athletes
health of athletes as they experience disappointment that have been impacted the most and determine how
and isolation (Hull et al., 2020). In addition, most ath- to provide prompt support to them. As the COVID-19
letes have not been able to train or compete as usual, pandemic is a rare event, it is difficult to compare
or travel to national and international meets (Samuel athletes’ situations to similar past circumstances.
et al., 2020); therefore, they have been forced to adapt Therefore, to support athletes, the implementation of
to new physiological and psychological challenges basic survey research and the accumulation of its find-
(Samuel et al., 2020). Hence, the global response to ings are necessary to assist those attempting to address
COVID-19 has had an extremely serious impact on the problem.
competitive athletes and their athletic activities. The impact of social changes caused by COVID-19

44 International Journal of Sport and Health Science Vol.21, 44-55, 2023

http://taiiku-gakkai.or.jp/
 Impact of COVID-19 on Athletes’ Lives

is expected to affect athletes’ daily lives and their Nevertheless, sports leagues and games are a source
athletic careers (Di Fronso et al., 2020). However, the of income for professional athletes, and due to cancel-
degree of impact may vary according to each athlete’s lations under the prevailing circumstances, an increas-
characteristics and environment. For instance, a ing number of athletes face financial problems. Low-
Chinese study of college students found that anxiety level athletes and especially female athletes are prone
caused by the COVID-19 pandemic was related to to such problems, placing them in a more difficult sit-
participants’ residence (rural areas), steady family uation (Mehrsafar et al., 2020) than their counterparts.
income, and whether they were living with parents These financial issues can be a serious problem not
(Cao et al., 2020). The impact of these individual only for the elite athletes, but also for university and
characteristics is expected to vary depending on the amateur athletes, who may face financial problems
country and individual circumstances, such as whether because of workplace closures. Mehrsafar et al. (2020)
they are an athlete or a student, Japanese or Chinese, therefore proposed that each nation should provide
and so on. financial support to athletes and athletic teams. In fact,
Although research on the impact of COVID-19 on the governments of many countries provided financial
athletes has been gradually published worldwide, and support to their general populations after declaring a
some studies have observed that female athletes and state of emergency. In contrast, the Japanese govern-
injured athletes are prone to higher depression scores ment issued no statement providing assurances of sal-
than their counterparts (Vaughan et al., 2020), no aries when the state of emergency was declared.
reports have specifically addressed Japanese athletes. Consequently, we propose the following hypotheses
This point is important because some social response (H): H1—Countermeasures and their impact and the
measures, such as social distancing, may affect indi- spread of COVID-19 on athletes’ daily lives will vary
viduals differently, depending on their culture (Schinke depending on the state of emergency declaration. H2
et al., 2020ab). Therefore, by clarifying the relation- —Athletes with low incomes may struggle to con- tinue
ship between athletes’ individual characteristics and with their sport. In fact, in a study of Chinese students,
the impact of COVID-19 on their athletic career and the decrease in household income caused by the
daily lives in Japan, this study aims to provide sug- pandemic was associated with students’ perceived
gestions for efficacious support for Japanese athletes. anxiety (Cao et al., 2020). Similarly, athletes who
Many countries declared a state of emergency in have low (vs. high) incomes should also be more
response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and some aware of the impact of COVID-19 on their athletic
implemented complete lockdowns, prohibiting outings. activities. H3—Based on previous research conducted
In Japan, a state of emergency was declared in both in other countries (di Fronso et al., 2020; Vaughan et
the capital and many metropolitan areas on the 7 th of al., 2020), female (vs. male) athletes will be especially
April 2020; however, there were no severe legal reper- aware of the impact of COVID-19 on their athletic
cussions for not staying at home (Japan Times, activities. In Japan, gender is an individual character-
2020b). Even before the state of emergency was istic that leads to low annual income (Organisation for
declared in Japan, companies, educational organisa- Economic Co-operation and Development, 2018); that
tions, and sports facilities began to close, and practice is, compared to men, the annual income for women is
and training sessions for professional and amateur ath- lower. In addition, the area of residence is also related
letic groups were gradually suspended (Japan Times, to annual income and is expected to have an influence
2020a). Other COVID-19-related problems for athletes on the impact of COVID-19 on athletes’ daily lives
included the decision to train, the possible spread of and athletic activities.
infection within teams, doubts about guidance upon In examining these hypotheses, we considered mul-
the return to competitions, and the employment status tiple possibilities, created an exploratory model using
of athletes (Hull et al., 2020); that is, athletes with various variables related to the impact of COVID-19,
high annual incomes may have been affected by can- and examined the relationship between these variables
cellations and delays. Nevertheless, they were typi- (see Figure 1). Specifically, assuming that the areas of
cally less concerned about their financial situation than residence, gender, and annual income are related to
their less-affluent counterparts. the influence of COVID-19 on the athletic activities
Affluent athletes may be unaware of the impact of and daily lives of athletes, then annual income is
the COVID-19 countermeasures on their daily lives. expected to be a mediating variable between them.

45
Rei Amemiya

Figure 1 Hypothetical model in this study.

2. Material and methods events; including district level to world level at least
once every six months, and have played competitive
2.1. Participants and survey period sports for two years or more. A process was required
to recruit participants from the Cross Marketing data-
Participants were 476 Japanese athletes (250 males base. Firstly, we distributed 294,510 surveys to poten-
and 226 females: mean age = 28.39 ± 6.53 years).
Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was difficult to tial participants who met the criteria for a practicing
conduct a wide range of surveys among the target athlete as mentioned above. We then randomly
population of athletes directly or collectively, as social selected participants for analysis, excluding those who
distancing or preventative measures restricted access responded to the question, ‘Please do not answer this
to not only athletes but also to the general population. question’ to prevent satisficing (Miura & Kobayashi,
Therefore, we worked through Cross Marketing, an 2015). Finally, when selecting participants, we ran-
online survey company, and recruited Japanese ath- domly chose male athletes aged 18–29, female ath-
letes registered with them. Consequently, the assumed letes aged 18–29, male athletes aged 30–39, and
population in this study is limited to athletes who reg- female athletes aged 30–39, assuming that both the
istered as respondents with an Internet research com- ratio of males to females and the ratio of age would
pany. Cross Marketing has 4.73 million registrants, remain constant. However, female athletes aged 30–39
and we recruited athletes from this subject pool. In an had about 20 fewer responses than the other groups.
online survey of female athletes, Kemuriyama and The sports played by the participants were diverse and
Amazaki (2013) treated participants as athletes if they included group sports, such as soccer and softball, and
answered, ‘Yes’ to the following question: ‘During the individual sports, like golf and tennis. In this study,
past year, have you participated in one or more sports team sports were defined as sports that required play-
games or tournaments?’ However, in the current study, ers to play together with teammates, and an individual
we used a stricter criteria: Participants had to be resi- sport was defined as a sport in which a single player
dents of Japan, between 18–39 years old, practice can play in a competition. Table 1 shows the partici-
competitive sports, belong to a sports team, engage in pants’ characteristics and socio-demographic variables.
training focused on their own sport at least once every The survey was conducted from the 6 th–13th of April
two to three weeks, attend their sport’s competitive 2020. In Japan, the media began discussing the possi-
ble declaration of a state of emergency around the 5th

46
 Impact of COVID-19 on Athletes’ Lives

Table 1 Socio-demographic variables of participants.

Variables Number Variables Num-

ber
Competitive level 1: National or higher 129 Annual income 1: < JPY 2 million (USD 1,862) 173
(number) 2: Regional or lower 347 (number) 2: ≥ JPY 2 million (USD 1,862) to 124
K10 mean 10.92 < JPY 4 million (USD 37,235)
(score) SD 8.95 3: ≥ JPY 4 million (USD 37,235) 110
Type of sport 1: individual sports 231 to < JPY 6 million (USD 55,852)
(number) 2: group sports 245 4: ≥ JPY 6 million (USD 55,852) 40
Area of residence 1: area without a state of emergency 205 to < JPY 8 million (USD 74,469)
(number) 2: area under a state of emergency 271 5: ≥ JPY 8 million (USD 74,469) 29
Marital status 1: unmarried 293 Employment 1: Full-time 277
(number) 2: married 183 (number) 2: Part-time or unemployed 199
Gender 1: men 250 Impact on athletic mean 8.01
(number) 2: women 226 activities (score) SD 2.40
Impact on daily Mean 7.57
lives (score) SD 2.41

Note: These variables are coded as follows; Area of residence (1: area without a state of emergency. 2: area under a state of emergency),
Competitive level (1: National or higher. 2: Regional or lower), Marital status (1: unmarried. 2: married), Type of sport (1: individual
sports. 2: group sports), Employment (1: Full-time. 2: Part-time or unemployed), Gender (1: male. 2: female).

of April 2020. The actual declaration was made on the ally, competitive level was coded as 1: national or
7th of April 2020, and the emergency was scheduled to higher, or 2: regional or lower, based on a previous
last until the 6th of May 2020. The state of emergency study by Ueno et al. (2018).
was declared in the heavily populated areas of Japan,
including the metropolitan and surrounding areas 2.2.2. Awareness of the impact of COVID-19 on
(Chiba, Saitama, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Osaka, Hyogo, daily lives and athletic activities
and Fukuoka Prefectures). After participating in the To examine the impact of COVID-19 on daily lives
survey, participants received incentives as stipulated and athletic activities, we posed a set of questions,
by Cross Marketing. scored on a 11-point scale (0 = ‘no impact at all’ and
10 = ‘full impact’). The questions were: ‘How much
2.2. Measurements impact has COVID-19 had on your daily life?’ and
‘How much impact has COVID-19 had on your ath-
2.2.1. Basic participant characteristics letic activities?’
To obtain the participants’ basic characteristics, we
inquired about their gender, marital status (1: married, 2.2.3. Kessler Psychological Distress Scale
2: single), area of residence (1: area without a state of We used the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale to
emergency, 2: area under a state of emergency), and assess the participants’ level of depression. This psy-
participant’s annual income (ranging from < JPY chological scale was developed to screen for depres-
2million [USD 1,862] to ≧ JPY 30 million sion and anxiety disorders and is used worldwide
[USD (Furukawa et al., 2003; Kessler et al., 2002). Cron-
279,260]), based on the conversion rate between USD
bach’s α for the scale was 0.947.
and JPY on the 16th of April 2020. To use this vari-
able for analysis, we coded the participant’s income in
2.3. Ethical considerations
line with a previous study (Ueno & Oshio, 2019):
1: < JPY 2 million (USD 1,862), 2: ≥ JPY 2
million To ensure that ethical considerations were followed,
(USD 1,862) to < JPY 4 million (USD 37,235), 3: ≥ we explained to the participants that they had the free-
JPY 4 million (USD 37,235) to < JPY 6 million (USD dom to choose to respond or not, that the collected
55,852), 4: ≥ JPY 6 million (USD 55,852) to < JPY data would be used only for the purpose of the study,
8
and that personal data would be kept confidential.
million (USD 74,469), and 5: ≥ JPY 8 million (USD
Subsequently, only those who provided written con-
74,469). Sports included the type of sport (1: individ-
sent were allowed to participate in the survey. The
ual, 2: group) and employment (1: full-time or free-
lance, 2: part-time, student, or unemployed). Addition-

47
 Rei Amemiya

whole survey was approved by the ethics committee dependent variables through annual income.
of the affiliated research facility; however, questions
regarding COVID-19 were asked without the approval 3. Results
of the ethics committee. This was due to the rapid
changes in social conditions caused by COVID-19, At the preliminary analysis, we calculated Pearson’s
and the lack of time to gain the ethics committee’s product-moment correlation coefficient between vari-
approval. Meanwhile, respondents were free to stop ables. The results revealed significant correlations
answering at any point, and no problems were between some of the variables (Table 2).
reported regarding the content of the survey items. To examine the factors related to the impact of
COVID-19 on athletic activities, we performed a mul-
2.4. Analytical methods tiple regression analysis with forced entry. The results
showed that gender (β = 0.14, p < .01) was positively
To examine the factors related to the impact of correlated with impact on athletic activities, while
COVID-19 on the daily lives and athletic activities marital status (β = −0.13, p < .05) and annual income
of athletes, we calculations employed the Pearson’s (β = −0.14, p < .05) were negatively correlated. The
product-moment correlation coefficient between vari- interaction term of marital status and gender
(β = −0.13, p < .05) and the interaction term of mari-
ables. In addition, we performed multiple regression tal status and age (β = 0.11, p < .05) were statistically
analyses with forced entry. If the interaction term was significant. Table 3 shows the results of the regression
significant, we performed a simple slope analysis. analysis of the impact on daily lives and athletic activ-
Subsequently, we performed a path analysis based on ities.
structural equation modelling (SEM) by the maximum The interaction terms of marital status and gender
likelihood estimation method using robust standard and marital status and age were statistically signifi-
errors to examine the relationship between the vari- cant. The result of the simple slope analysis showed
ables. The model shown in Figure 1 was reproduced that for the interaction term of marital status and gen-
in the analysis. In the model, area of residence, der, males were not impacted by marital status. In
depression, competitive level, marital status, type of contrast, unmarried female athletes recognised the
sports, employment, gender, and age were set as inde- impact of COVID-19 on their athletic activities more
pendent variables. Furthermore, annual income was significantly than married female athletes (p < .01).
set as a mediation variable, and the impact on daily For the interaction term of marital status and age,
lives and athletic activities as dependent variables. young athletes were impacted by marital status; how-
Additionally, we examined the indirect effect by ever, young married athletes were significantly less
applying the bootstrapping method to determine the aware of the impact of COVID-19 on their athletic
indirect effect of the independent variables on the

Table 2 Calculation results of Pearson’s correlation coefficients.

Variables 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

1. Competitive level —
2. K10 .02 —
3. Type of sport .01 −.02 —
4. Area of residence −.07 −.02 −.12** —
5.
Marital status .09* − .04 .02 .01 —
6.
Gender −.19** −.01 −.14** .03 .02 —
7. Annual income .02 −.03 .05 .08 .34** −.25** —
8. Age .19** .00 .04 −.04 .54** −.08 .50** —
9. Employment −.00 −.02 .03 .09* .05 −.00 .06 .05 —
10. Impact on athletic activity −.05 −.08 .04 .03 −.14** .18** −.24** −.15** .06 —
11. Impact on daily life −.06 .02 .03 .15** −.08 .18** −.19** −.09 .07 .58** —

* p < .05, ** p < .01.

Note: These variables are coded as follows; Area of residence (1: area without a state of emergency. 2: area under a state of emergency),
Competitive level (1: National or higher. 2: Regional or lower), Marital status (1: unmarried. 2: married), Type of sport (1: individual
sports. 2: group sports), Employment (1: Full-time. 2: Part-time or unemployed), Gender (1: male. 2: female).

48
 Impact of COVID-19 on Athletes’ Lives

Table 3 Multiple regression analysis for athletic life and general life during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Variables β 95%CI p Variables β 95%CI p

Competition level IAA −.00 [−.10-.09] Marital status × sex −.13 [−.24-−.02] .05
IDL −.03 [−.12-.07] −.01 [−.12-.11]
Depression IAA −.08 [−.16-.01] Marital status × income −.06 [−.18-.07]
IDL .02 [−.07-.11] .00 [−.12-.13]
Type of sport IAA .06 [−.03-.15] Marital status × age .11 [.00-.22] .05
IDL .07 [−.02-.16] .12 [.01-.23] .05
Area of residence IAA .05 [−.04-.14] Marital status × employment .03 [−.06-.13]
IDL .17 [.08-.26] .01 .01 [−.08-.11]
Marital status IAA −.13 [−.25-−.01] .05 Sex × income .07 [−.04-.18]
IDL −.12 [−.24-.01] −.02 [−.13-.09]
Gender IAA .14 [.04-.23] .01 Sex × age .09 [−.03-.20]
IDL .15 [.06-.25] .01 .05 [−.07-.17]
Income IAA −.14 [−.25-−.03] .05 Sex × employment .01 [−.08-.10]
IDL −.13 [−.25-−.02] .05 −.04 [−.13-.05]
Age IAA .01 [−.11-.13] Sex × Type of sport .07 [−.02-.16]
IDL .07 [−.07-.19] −.01 [−.09-.08]
Employment IAA .07 [−.02-.16] Income × age −.07 [−.18-.04]
IDL .07 [−.02-.16] −.07 [−.19-.04]
Income × job type .04 [−.06-.14]
.01 [−.09-.11]
2
R IAA .13*** IDL .11***
* p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001.
Note: Abbreviations: IAA = impact on athletic activities, IDL = Impact on daily lives. These variables are coded as follows. Area of resi-
dence (1: area without a state of emergency. 2: area under a state of emergency), Competitive level (1: National or higher. 2: Regional or
lower), Marital status (1: unmarried. 2: married), Type of sport (1: individual sports. 2: group sports), Employment (1: Full-time. 2: Part-
time or unemployed), Gender (1: male. 2: female).

action term of marital status and age were positively

correlated with the impact on daily lives (β = 0.12,
p < .05).
As the interaction term of marital status and age
was statistically significant for the impact on daily
life, we performed a simple slope analysis. The results
showed that the impact on the daily lives of single
athletes was high, regardless of their age. However,
younger, married athletes were significantly less aware
of the impact on their daily lives compared to those
Figure 2 Results of the simple slope analysis assessing the who were older (p < .05). The result of the simple
impact on athletic activities based on marital status and gender slope analysis is shown in Figure 3.
Note: This analysis put in other variables as control variables. The
control variables are the other independent variables shown in Next, to confirm the predictor variables for income,
Table 3. we conducted another multiple regression analysis. As
shown in Table 4, age (β = 0.37, p < .01), area of res-
idence (β = 0.11, p < .01), and marital status (β =
activities (p < .01). The simple slope analysis between 0.20,
marital status and gender is shown in Figure 2. p < .01) were positively associated with income. In
contrast, gender (β = −0.25, p < .01), competitive
We performed a multiple regression analysis to level (β = −0.11, p < .01), interaction term of gender
examine the factors related to the impact of COVID- and marital status (β = −0.16, p < .01), and interac-
tion term of age and marital status (β = 0.13, p < .01)
19 on daily lives. The results showed that the area of were negatively associated with income.
residence (β = 0.17, p < .01) and gender (β =
0.15, p < .01) were positively correlated with the A simple slope analysis was performed to examine
impact of COVID-19 on daily lives, while annual the interaction effects between gender and marital sta-
income was
negatively correlated (β = −0.13, p < .05). The
inter-

49
Rei Amemiya

Table 4 Multiple regression analysis for income.

Variables β 95%CI p Variables β 95%CI p

Competition level −.11 [−.18-−.03] Employment .02 [−.05-.10]
Depression −.02 [−.10-.05] Marital status × Gender −.16 [−.25-−.07] .01
Type of sport .02 [−.05-.10] Marital status × age −.13 [−.22-−.05] .01
Area of residence .11 [.03-.18] .01 Marital status × employment .02 [−.07-.11]
Marital status .20 [.10-.30] .01 Gender × age −.02 [−.11-.07]
Gender −.25 [−.33-−.18] .01 Gender × employment −.00 [−.08-.07]
Age .37 [.27-.46] .01 Age × employment .02 [−.07-.11]

R2 0.37**
** p <
.01.
Note: These variables are coded as follows; Area of residence (1: area without a state of emergency. 2: area under a state of emergency),
Competitive level (1: National or higher. 2: Regional or lower), Marital status (1: unmarried. 2: married), Type of sport (1: individual
sports. 2: group sports), Employment (1: Full-time. 2: Part-time or unemployed), Gender (1: male. 2: female).

(β = 0.36, p < .001), while gender was negatively cor-

related with annual income (β = −0.28, p < .01) and
positively correlated with the impact of COVID-19 on
daily lives (β = 0.14, p < .01) and athletic activities
(β = 0.13, p < .01). Annual income was negatively
correlated with the impact on daily lives (β = −0.21,
p < .01) and athletic activities (β = −0.16, p < .001).
The results of the examination of the indirect
impact showed that the area of residence (daily lives:
β = −0.02, p < .01; athletic activities: β = −0.02,
p < .01), gender (daily lives: β = 0.05, p < .05;
ath-
Figure 3 Results of the simple slope analysis assessing the letic activities: β = 0.06, p < .01) and marital status
impact on daily lives based on age and marital status were (daily lives: β = −0.06, p < .05; athletic activi-
Note: This analysis put in other variables as control variables. The ties: β = −0.08, p < .01) indirectly correlated with the
control variables are the other independent variables shown in impact of COVID-19 on daily lives and athletic activ-
Table 3. ities through annual income. The results of the SEM
are shown in Figure 4.

tus, and between age and marital status. The results

4. Discussion
showed that male married athletes had a higher
income than unmarried male athletes (p < .01), The results of the multiple regression analysis indi-
although the interaction observed between married and
cated that the area of residence, especially in areas
unmarried female athletes were not statistically signif-
under a state of emergency, was associated with the
icant. In addition, athletes who were younger and
impact on daily lives, such that the athletes in these
married had a higher income than younger unmarried
areas felt the impact on their daily lives more acutely.
athletes (p < .01). Previous research targeting non-athletes has reported
Next, we examined the variables using SEM, with
similar results—that post-traumatic stress responses
competition level, depression, type of sport, area of
are higher in people who live in central areas where
residence, marital status, gender, age, employment,
COVID-19 has spread rapidly, than people who live
and annual income as the independent variables, and
in other areas (Liu et al., 2020). Therefore, as the
awareness of the impact of COVID-19 on daily lives
degree of the recognised impact of COVID-19 varies
and athletic activities as the dependent variable. The
depending on the residential areas of athletes, it is
model was saturated. We examined the standardised
necessary to focus assistance efforts based on area.
partial regression coefficient and revealed positive cor- In addition, our findings showed that young married
relations between the area of residence and annual athletes perceived the impact of COVID-19 on their
income (β = 0.11, p < .01) and the impact of COVID-
19 on daily lives (β = 0.17, p < .001). Marital status
was positively correlated with annual income

50
 Impact of COVID-19 on Athletes’ Lives

Figure 4 SEM results for the variables influencing the impact on daily life and athletic life
**p < .01, ***p < .001
Note: These variables are coded as follows; Area of residence (1: area without a state of emergency. 2: area under a
state of emergency), Competitive level (1: National or higher. 2: Regional or lower), Marital status (1: unmarried. 2:
married), Type of sport (1: individual sports. 2: group sports), Employment (1: Full-time. 2: Part-time or unemployed),
Gender (1: male. 2: female).
Although this model is a saturation model, only the significant paths are shown in this figure.

lives to be less than that perceived by other groups. COVID-19 on their athletic activities and daily lives.
This result is similar to the findings reported by Cao Female athletes are more likely to encounter financial
et al. (2020), who showed that anxiety in college stu- problems than male athletes; for example, there is a
dents during the pandemic was associated with social huge financial disparity between female soccer players
support and if they were living with their parents. and their male counterparts, this is compounded by
Thus, it can be inferred that being in an environment issues regarding financial support and the imbalance
where it is easy to receive support reduces the aware- of employment (Eunjin, 2017). Globally, female ath-
ness of the impact of COVID-19 on daily life. How- letes encounter more difficulties earning and winning
ever, in the current study, this effect was observed prize money than male athletes (Male Champions of
only in young married athletes. This finding could be Change, 2019). This situation is similar in Japan,
because as people age, they may be more prone to where it has been noted that females have lower rates
experiencing conflicts within their marriage. Further- of regular employment and lower incomes than males
more, an increasing number of companies located in (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Devel-
Japan have shifted to remote work, resulting in cou- opment, 2018). Furthermore, COVID-19 had a partic-
ples spending more time together, which, in turn, has ular economic impact on females who were more
led to the phenomenon of ‘corona divorce’ (Japan likely to be irregularly employed (Japan Times,
Times, 2020c). The likelihood of family conflict is 2020d). In other words, in the unprecedented situation
expected to increase as the duration of a marriage of COVID-19, it is easy for groups who are socially
increases. Hence, despite being married, older athletes vulnerable to feel burdened and, in Japan, when con-
may experience a greater impact of COVID-19 on sidering the problem through an economic lens,
their daily lives, especially in their home environment. females are one of these affected groups. This is not
Unmarried female athletes were more likely to be limited to athletes; according to a study that used the
aware of the impact of COVID-19 than married National Health Survey data in Chile, their survey that
female athletes. The results of the SEM showed that targeted participants aged 25–55 years, found that
female athletes generally had a lower annual income, financial stress was related to depression in both males
which made them more aware of the impact of and females, but its correlation was stronger for

51
Rei Amemiya

females. This indicates that socio-economic situations married female athletes and can share and rely on the
and stressful events related to depression were more income of their earning partners This implies that
likely to be faced by females than males (González & unmarried female athletes experience less financial
Vives, 2019). In addition, a cross-sectional survey of stability and a higher likelihood of psychological
approximately 3,400 people in Spain found that during issues as a result, than married female athletes. Thus,
the COVID-19 pandemic, being female and experienc- it is speculated that one of the reasons why single
ing economic instability was associated with symp- female athletes experience a greater impact on their
toms of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress athletic and daily lives as a result of COVID-19 is
disorders (González-Sanguino et al., 2020). Further- due to financial problems.
more, studies of athletes in other countries also found This study has limitations that should be addressed
that female athletes experienced higher levels of in future studies. First, the present survey was limited
depression, anxiety, and stress than male athletes to Japanese athletes. So, as there are some differences
during COVID-19 (Di Fronso et al., 2020; Vaughan et in the government policies of various countries, the
al., 2020). Although not confirmed in their study, these impact of COVID-19 on athletes is therefore likely to
authors suggested that economic problems played a differ between countries. In addition, although the
role in their findings (Di Fronso et al., 2020). present survey included athletes of different competi-
Gender-based income disparity in the Japanese society tive levels and sport types, athletes who were training
is still a reality and is likely to have affected the daily for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, for example,
lives and athletic activities of Japanese female athletes might have been impacted more severely. Therefore, it
during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. is necessary to consider the respective characteristics
In Japan, in the months following the state of emer- and situations of top, professional, amateur, and stu-
gency declaration, the government subsequently began dent athletes. Furthermore, the results of this study
to provide financial support to all citizens. However, suggest that unmarried female athletes experience the
during the time of the survey (at the time of the dec- effects of COVID-19 on their athletic and daily lives
laration of the emergency), there were no such finan- especially from the financial arena. However, it is also
cial measures, and information about financial support possible that unmarried female athletes live with
was unclear. We can easily expect athletes’ daily lives family members, like their parents and siblings, and
and work to have become difficult in such a situation. so can share in some of the economic resources. Addi-
Athletes on lower incomes, will be affected by the tionally, it is difficult to conclude that their concerns
lack of continued competitive activities. According to in their athletic and daily lives are based solely on
Lavallee et al. (1997), factors that influence retirement financial issues. Therefore, it is necessary to examine
from competition include work, study, decreased the other variables aside from this, that could be used
motivation, poor performance, and financial issues. If to predict the problems they experience during the
athletes are married, they may have access to a dual COVID-19 pandemic.
source of income, making it easier for them to resolve Second, we should consider the effects of the sur-
certain financial concerns. In fact, according to a vey design and participant sample on the results of
survey conducted by the Meiji Yasuda Institute of Life this study. It should be noted that the participants in
and Wellness Inc. (2008), of the annual household this study were respondents registered with research
income of dual-income couples in Japan, 38% is companies. In other words, the results of this study
earned by wives and 62% by husbands. Although it were limited to athletes aged 18–39 who registered as
should be noted that some females change their respondents with an Internet research company and
employment status post-marriage, as the present responded to requests from the research company,
study’s results show, single female athletes experi- which offered incentives. Regarding income, it is not
enced a stronger impact of COVID-19 on their daily clear whether the participants in this study earned
lives and athletic activities. As indicated by both the their income from sports organisations as athletes or
report from Meiji Yasuda Institute of Life and Well- whether they played in their spare time while working
ness Inc. (2008) and the results shown in Table 4 of at a general company as amateur athletes. In addition,
this study, unmarried female athletes earn approxi- the possibility of sampling bias in online monitoring
mately the same income as married female athletes. surveys is debatable. For instance, there is a digital
However, married male athletes earn more money than divide between those with and without Internet access,

52
 Impact of COVID-19 on Athletes’ Lives

as those with Internet access report better health than or in any other occupation that has been affected by
those without (Tourangeau et al., 2019). Therefore, it the COVID-19 pandemic and its countermeasures,
has been pointed out that generalising the results of should also be examined in detail in future research.
Internet surveys to the general population would over- The method of psychological testing and questioning
estimate participants’ health (Tourangeau et al., 2019). used, as well as the coding of the nominal scale, may
However, at the same time, it has also been shown affect the results. Therefore, the results of this study
that there were no differences in the results when the need to be interpreted in consideration of these points.
same questionnaire was administered in an in-person
setting (e.g., a survey conducted in a group or by 5. Conclusion
post) versus when it was administered as an Internet
survey (Miura and Kobayashi, 2018; Morita et al., Although the above challenges remain, the present
2001). Although this finding needs to be interpreted findings have implications for further research. In this
cautiously, because few studies examine the differ- study, Japanese athletes who were female, single, had
ences between the survey methods, it may be said that a lower income, and whose residence was under a
it is possible to arrive at the same results through an state of emergency were more aware of the impact of
Internet survey as conventional in-person question- COVID-19 on their daily lives and athletic activities
naires. A future research study may replicate this than their counterparts. Therefore, support should per-
study with the same questions in-person, the compara- haps be focused on the athletes with these characteris-
tive results may shed more light on this debate. Con- tics based on the results of the current survey and can
versely, it has also been pointed out that the represen- be confirmed by other longitudinal surveys.
tativeness of conventional random sampling surveys is
imperfect. In particular, participants in this study were Funding
Japanese athletes registered as respondents with an This work was supported by Grant-in-Aid for Early-
online research company. Therefore, instead of inter- Career Scientists (Grant Number 19K19944).
preting results based only on online or offline surveys,
as the present study does, judgements regarding gen- Conflicts of interest
eralizability should be made based on results obtained The authors declare that they have no conflict of
from multiple methods (Kawasaki and Takahashi, interest.
2019; Honda, 2006). Although this study utilised a
cross-sectional survey and given that the impact of Informed consent
COVID-19 may be long-term, athletes’ awareness Written informed consent was obtained from all
regarding its impact and its relationship with mental individual adult participants included in this study.
health may change over time. Thus, a longitudinal
study may be necessary. Since the model utilized in Note
Some parts of this study were presented at the 47th Annual
this study was exploratory, the fit between the data
Meeting of the Japanese Society of Sport Psychology in 2020.
and the model was not examined using the goodness
of fit indices. Therefore, the reproducibility of the References
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54
 Impact of COVID-19 on Athletes’ Lives

Name:
Rei Amemiya

Affiliation:
Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, Uni-
versity of Tsukuba

Address:
1-1-1, Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8574, Japan
Brief Biographical History:
2014-2017 Doctoral course in Graduate School of Comprehensive
Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba
2015-2017 Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Research
Fellowship for Young Scientists (DC2)
2017-2021 Junior Assistant Professor, Faculty of Health and Sport
Sciences, University of Tsukuba
2021- present Assistant Professor, Faculty of Health and Sport
Sciences, University of Tsukuba
Main Works:
• Amemiya, R. and Sakairi, Y. (2022). Examining the Relationship
between Depression and the Progression of Burnout Among Jap-
anese Athletes. Japanese Psychological Research, 64, 373-384.
• Amemiya, R. and Sakairi, Y. (2021). Relationship Between
Mindfulness and Cognitive Anxiety-Impaired Performance: Based
on Performance Evaluation Discrepancies. Asian Journal of Sport
and Exercise Psychology, 1, 67-74.
• Amemiya, R. and Sakairi, Y. (2020). The Role of Self-Compas-
sion in Athlete Mindfulness and Burnout: Examination of the
Effects of Gender Differences. Personality and Individual Differ-
ences, 166, 110167.
Membership in Learned Societies:
• Japan Society of Physical Education, Health and Sport Sciences
• Japanese Society of Sport Psychology
• Japanese Psychological Association

55