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DOI

https://doi.org/10.51221/sc.jiia.2026.19.1.14

Abstract

Social media is central to college athletics, yet public visibility can expose collegiate student-athletes to online harassment, a risk the NCAA has recently highlighted by documenting sizable volumes of abusive, discriminatory, and betting-related content directed at athletes and officials. This study surveyed 85 NCAA Division I student-athletes from ten universities across the Mid-American Conference and assessed social-media behaviors, online harassment exposure, depression, and anxiety. Most athletes used social media 1–3 hours/day, 78% enabled name-mention alerts, and platforms commonly used included Instagram (98.8%) and X (65.9%). Online harassment was reported via social posts (9.4%), direct messages (4.7%), and texts (3.5%), with incidents on Instagram (6%) and X (5%). Online harassment correlated positively with depression but not anxiety. In regression models, harassment and gender predicted depression; the interaction was nonsignificant. Models predicting anxiety were not significant. Findings indicate that hostile online content is a meaningful digital stressor associated with depressive symptoms among Division I athletes amid substantial platform exposure. Athletics programs should pair brand/visibility guidance with digital safety education, confidential reporting systems, and routine mental health screening. Future multi-conference, longitudinal studies with higher-resolution harassment measures (including timing relative to competition) are warranted to clarify causal pathways and identify protective factors.

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