Mental Health and Lifestyle Among Elite Counter-Strike Athletes

Sammanfattning

The purpose of this study was to examine mental health outcomes and their possibleassociations with lifestyle factors among Counter-Strike (CS) esports athletes and highranking amateur CS players. The sample (N = 63) comprised professional players within theglobal top 200 teams (n = 32) and high-ranking amateurs at the FACEIT level 10 competitivetier (n = 31). Participants completed validated self-report questionnaires assessing symptomsof depression, anxiety, sleep quality and burnout. Several lifestyle-related variables wereassessed, including physical activity level, perceived social support, self-reported screen time,perceived diet, recovery behaviors, engagement in hobbies outside of esports, and dual careerparticipation. Overall, no significant differences were found between the two groupsregarding mental health outcomes. The majority of participants from both groups scoredbelow cut-off for clinical values among mental health measures. Regression analysesidentified screen time as a statistically significant predictor of anxiety symptoms and sleepquality. Healthier dietary habits significantly predicted lower depressive symptoms. Recoverybehaviors and hobbies outside gaming demonstrated protective trends in relation to depressivesymptoms and burnout. However, these relationships did not consistently reach statisticalsignificance in the regression models. The findings suggest that mental health outcomesamong CS athletes may be associated with several lifestyle-related factors, particularly screentime. Due to a relatively small sample, findings should be interpreted and generalized withcaution. Further research using larger samples is warranted.