This research aimed to explore how the mental status of student athletes at the University of South Carolina has been affected by the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 61 student athletesbetween the ages of 17 and 24 participated in the study and completed a series of questions including the Depression-Anxiety-Stress Scale 21 (DASS-21) and the Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ). Independent samples t-tests and descriptive analyseswere used for comparisons between genderand age. The results showed that female athletes reported statistically significantlyhigher levels of anxietyand stress than male athletes (p = 0.049 and p = 0.02)and upperclassmen athletes reported statistically significantly higher levels ofanxietythan underclassmen athletes(p= 0.01).However, team cohesion was not significantly different between men and women or upper and underclassmen. Students also reported that COVID-19has negatively affected their well-being and most student athletes feel very disconnected to other students at the university besides their teammates. Implications for the future include finding ways to improve the mental health of women and upperclassmen as well as conducting more research to find out if mental health rates differ between athletes at other universities and between those who did/did not test positive for COVID-19.
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