title: Predictors of perceptions of mental illness and averseness to help: a survey of elite football players.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hypermasculinity may impact elite football players' willingness to seek help for mental health problems.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This quantitative study sought to identify what set of characteristics, including hypermasculinity, best predicts elite football players' mental health attitudes.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Attitude Scale for Mental Illness, Inventory of Attitudes toward Seeking Mental Health Services, and Athlete's Perception of Masculinity Scale were self-administered to 112 football players from the NFLPA and the Washington, DC metro area.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Canonical correlation analysis was used to develop a regression model that best predicts elite football players' mental health attitudes. This study found that though the athletes have high levels of hypermasculinity (x = 19.66, SD = 7.43), other factors, including marital status and sport level lessen the effects of hypermasculinity and facilitate positive perceptions of mental illness and receptivity to help.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Predictors suggest that therapeutic efforts targeted toward family and support networks, as well as intervention strategies for decreasing mental illness stigma are essential to encourage positive mental health attitudes in elite football players.
authors.affiliation: a School of Social Work, Clark Atlanta University , Atlanta , GA , USA.
authors.forename: Tiffanie-Victoria
authors.initials: TV
authors.lastname: Jones
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D056352:Athletes / Q000523:psychology*; D005538:Football / Q000523:psychology*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D000066505:Help-Seeking Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D057228:Masculinity; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D057545:Social Stigma; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: elite athletes; hypermasculinity; mental health