Mental health and wellbeing of elite male youth Australian footballers on the road to the AFL draft: a longitudinal analysis

Abstract

Despite over 640,000 youth athletes playing Australian Football, only 0.3% are selected in the Australian Football League (AFL) draft. The psychological demands of this pathway raise concerns for players’ mental health and wellbeing, particularly given that most will not transition into the professional system. This longitudinal study examined mental health outcomes among 418 elite male youth footballers competing in the SANFL Under 18 competition during their AFL draft year. Players completed surveys at pre-, mid-, and end-of-season assessing wellbeing, anxiety, depression, disordered eating, sleep, social support, and self-compassion. Linear and generalised linear mixed models showed that mental health outcomes remained relatively stable across the season, with the exception of increased sleep difficulties at mid-season (ASSQ score: 4.78 ± 2.69) compared to pre-season (ASSQ score: 4.42 ± 2.35) (p =.009, d = 0.17). By contrast, self-compassion and social support consistently predicted higher mental health. Higher self-compassion was strongly associated with lower likelihoods of depression (OR = 0.23, 95% CI [0.10, 0.56]), anxiety (OR = 0.12, 95% CI [0.06, 0.22]), and disordered eating (OR = 0.39, 95% CI [0.24, 0.62]), and with markedly higher wellbeing (OR = 12.63, 95% CI [2.68, 59.52]). Social support was also linked to improved wellbeing (OR = 1.06, 95% CI [1.02, 1.11]) and reduced risk of depression (OR = 0.98, 95% CI [0.96, 1.00]). These findings highlight the protective role of psychosocial resources, underscoring the need for AFL pathway programmes to foster self-compassion and strengthen social support networks as central strategies for safeguarding youth footballers’ wellbeing on the road to (and beyond) the AFL draft.