Gender-based violence and mental health in university physical education and sports populations a systematic literature review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v81.119034Keywords:
Gender-based violence, mental health, university students, intimate partner violence, sexual assault, physical education, student-athletes, athletic performance, trauma-informed coaching, sports psychologyAbstract
Introduction. The problem of gender-based violence is a widespread one affecting students at universities; there are consequences relating to mental health, educational achievement, and participation in sport and physical education. The population in question requires evidence to inform their preventative approaches and interventions.
Objective. To review associations between gender-based violence victimization and mental health outcomes among university students, including sports and physical education populations.
Methodology. A total of 1,037 studies were identified using systematic searches from Scopus and Web of Science databases. Following the guidelines of the PRISMA, 140 articles were analyzed between 2021 and 2026. The main focus was placed on the prevalence of violence, experience thereof, and mental health outcomes.
Results. Prevalence rates were high: intimate partner violence (14.3–33.8%), sexual assault (10.9–30.8%), dating violence (11.6–34.2%), harassment (13.5–33.7%), stalking (10.5–34.1%), coercive control (11.2–34.2%). Mental health effects showed moderate–large sizes: depression (0.30–0.79), anxiety (0.31–0.80), PTSD (0.34–0.75), suicidal ideation (0.34–0.72), substance use (0.37–0.80), self-harm (AOR 3.28). Athletic contexts revealed decreased motor performance, reduced motivation, and higher burnout.
Conclusion. Gendered violence poses significant challenges to both the psychological well-being of students as well as their performances in athletics. Certain genders, such as women, sexual minorities, and those that are marginalized, have a higher risk of experiencing such forms of violence.
References
Alkasasbeh, W. J., & Akroush, S. H. (2025). Sports motivation: a narrative review of psychological ap-proaches to enhance athletic performance. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1645274. Retrieved at https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1645274/full
Bloom, B. E., Sokoloff, L. C., Mulla, M. M., & Gonzales, G. (2021). Employees, advisees, and emerging scholars: A qualitative analysis of graduate students’ roles and experiences of sexual violence and sexual harassment on college campuses. Sexuality and Culture, 25(3), 841. . Retrieved at https://doi.org/10.1007/S12119-021-09841-W
Collatuzzo, G., & Boffetta, P. (2023). Cancers attributable to modifiable risk factors: a road map for pre-vention. Annual Review of Public Health, 44(1), 279-300. . Retrieved at https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-052220-124030
Dixon, S. (2023). Athletes’ experiences of addressing maltreatment through a reporting process: A criti-cal narrative analysis as guided by trauma-informed practice (Master's thesis, University of To-ronto (Canada)). . Retrieved at https://search.proquest.com/openview/93cfefb312c143cb34a0b4b1f0f51d41/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
Driessen, A. (2025). The role of Instagram in disclosures of campus sexual violence. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 34(2), 2562394. . Retrieved at https://doi.org/10.1080/10538712.2025.2562394
Fahmy, C., Griffiths, E., Wilson, T., & Bossarte, R. M. (2025). Comparative and combined associations of nonconsensual distribution of sexually explicit materials and interpersonal violence on psycho-logical distress. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 40(1–2), 301798. . Retrieved at https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605241301798
Gezinski, L. B., Karandikar, S., Levitt, A., Ghaffarian, N., & Gonzalez, M. (2025). The effect of intimate partner violence on psychological distress and suicidal ideation: An investigation of protective factors among university students in the USA. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 40(3–4), 1336349. . Retrieved at https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605251336349
Gómez, J. M. (2022). Campus sexual violence, gender, and mental health in diverse undergradua-te/graduate students. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 31(4), 543–972. . Retrie-ved at https://doi.org/10.1080/10926771.2022.2043972
Grover, P., Verduzco‐Gutierrez, M., & Annaswamy, T. (2026). A socioecological approach to understan-ding and positively affecting the intersectionality between disability, race and ethnicity, climate change, and rehabilitation outcomes: A scoping review. PM&R, 18, S35-S44. . Retrieved at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/pmrj.13401
Haddaway, N. R., Page, M. J., Pritchard, C. C., & McGuinness, L. A. (2022). PRISMA2020: An R package and Shiny app for producing PRISMA 2020‐compliant flow diagrams, with interactivity for op-timised digital transparency and Open Synthesis. Campbell systematic reviews, 18(2), e1230. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/cl2.1230
Iaquinto, S., Bührer, L., Feldmann, M., Latal, B., & Held, U. (2025). How to quantify between-study hete-rogeneity in single-arm evidence synthesis?—It depends!. Systematic reviews, 14(1), 138. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13643-025-02831-1
John, A., Gondek, D., Boehnke, J. R., Patalay, P., & Richards, M. (2026). Unacceptable experiences repor-ted by undergraduate students and their associations with mental health, well-being and aca-demic performance: U-Flourish student well-being research. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 71(3), 1412566. . Retrieved at https://doi.org/10.1177/07067437251412566
Kroshus, E., Ackerman, K. E., Brown, M., Griffin, P., Durden, L., Merrill, J., ... & Hainline, B. (2023). Impro-ving inclusion and well-being of trans and gender nonconforming collegiate student–athletes: foundational concepts from the National Collegiate Athletic Association Summit on Gender Identity and Student–Athlete Participation. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 57(10), 564-570. . Retrieved at https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/57/10/564.1.abstract
Lai, J., Tran, N. K., Ponce, N. A., Gee, G. C., & Prelip, M. L. (2025). Navigating silence: Cultural, familial, and immigration influences on the sexual violence experiences of Asian female college students in the University of California system. BMC Public Health, 25(1), 24487. . Retrieved at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-24487-1
Li, Y. (2025). Structural modelling of student volleyball athletes’ intimacy, social adjustment, perceived stress, and learning-related anxiety: mediating role of psychological safety. BMC psychology, 13(1), 15. Retrieved at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40359-024-02299-z
Liao, M., Hu, E., & Liu, K. (2025). Risk of suicidal behaviors following sport-related and non-sport-related concussion: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC psychiatry, 25(1), 1072. Re-trieved at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12888-025-07509-5
Littleton, H., Layh, M., & Rudolph, K. (2022). COVID-specific coercive control among emerging adults attending college: A brief note. Journal of Family Violence, 37(3), 403–408. Retrieved at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-022-00403-8
Luethke, T. N., Thompson, H. L., & Folk, G. (2025). “Coming Home Is the Hardest Part”: An Interpretati-ve Phenomenological Analysis of Sense Making in Military Postdeployment Reintegration. Journal of Community Psychology, 53(1), e23178. Retrieved at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jcop.23178
Lynch, S. M., Keasler, A. L., Reaves, R. C., Channer, E. G., & Busby, D. R. (2025). “I don’t think a broken spirit can be quantified”: Perceptions of college victimization and its consequences among stu-dents at a Hispanic-serving institution. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 40(5–6), 1265666. Re-trieved at https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605241265666
Maas, A. I., Menon, D. K., Manley, G. T., Abrams, M., Åkerlund, C., Andelic, N., ... & Zemek, R. (2022). Traumatic brain injury: progress and challenges in prevention, clinical care, and research. The Lancet Neurology, 21(11), 1004-1060. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474-4422(22)00309-X/abstract
Machisa, M. T., Christofides, N., & Jewkes, R. (2022). Suicidal thoughts, depression, post-traumatic stress, and harmful alcohol use associated with intimate partner violence and rape exposures among female students in South Africa. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(13), 7913. Retrieved at https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19137913
Mahlangu, P., Gibbs, A., Shai, N., Machisa, M., Nunze, N., & Jewkes, R. (2025). Intimate partner violence among lesbian, bisexual, and queer women students on campuses in South Africa: A qualitative study exploring context, drivers, and impacts. BMC Global and Public Health, 3(1), 149. Retrie-ved at https://doi.org/10.1186/s44263-025-00149-7
Mitra, M., Mouradian, V. E., & Diamond, M. (2021). Structural barriers to accessing the Campus Assault Resources and Education (CARE) offices at the University of California (UC) campuses. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36(21–22), 10428. Retrieved at https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605211042813
Paquette, K., Cortina, L. M., Mellins, C. A., Nicolaidis, C., Dworkin, E. R., & Stein, S. F. (2021). Trauma symptoms resulting from sexual violence among undergraduate students: Differences across gender and sexual minority status. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36(11–12), 5398. Retrie-ved at https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260519853398
Pengpid, S., & Peltzer, K. (2020). Associations of physical partner violence and sexual violence victimi-zation on health risk behaviours and mental health among university students from 25 coun-tries. BMC Public Health, 20(1), 1064. Retrieved at https://doi.org/10.1186/S12889-020-09064-Y
Priambodo, A., Kristyandaru, A., Jannah, M., Fathir, L. W., Orhan, B. E., & WIbowo, S. (2025). Develop-ment of a task-oriented physical education model to enhance students’ intrinsic motivation and motor skills. Sport TK: revista euroamericana de ciencias del deporte, (14), 57. Retrieved at https://digitum.um.es/bitstreams/313fc028-b98d-445f-9d42-153673598ffc/download
Quarmby, T., Sandford, R., Green, R., Hooper, O. and Avery, J., 2022. Developing evidence-informed principles for trauma-aware pedagogies in physical education. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 27(4), pp.440-454. Retrieved at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17408989.2021.1891214
Ramalie, R. (2024). Navigating the Intersection of Discipline and Accountability: a Comparative Analysis of Conduct Measures in the University of Central Florida Housing and Residence Life for Student Athletes And Non-athletic Students. Retrieved at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm?abstractid=4934740
Rowlands, S. (2024). Intimate partner violence and its psychosocial correlates among male survivors: The socio-ecological implications. Environment & Social Psychology, 9(7), 6286. Retrieved at https://doi.org/10.59429/esp.v9i7.6286
Spencer, C. M., Keilholtz, B. M., & Stith, S. M. (2022). Mental and physical health correlates for emotional intimate partner violence perpetration and victimization: A meta-analysis. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 23(5), 1137686. Retrieved at https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380221137686
Spencer, C. M., Keilholtz, B. M., & Stith, S. M. (2023). Factors correlated with sexual assault victimization among college students in the United States: A meta-analysis. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 24(5), 1146800. Retrieved at https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380221146800
Tarzia, L., Thuraisingam, S., Novy, K., Valpied, J., & Hegarty, K. (2025). Exploring experiences of co-occurring sexual violence and fear of partner in an Australian university sample. Journal of Se-xual Aggression, 31(1), 2550296. Retrieved at https://doi.org/10.1080/13552600.2025.2550296
Turner, B., Hequembourg, A., Canan, S. N., & Freyd, J. J. (2025). Betrayal as a mediator of PTSD sym-ptoms following romantic partner sexual assault in college students. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 40(3–4), 1368923. Retrieved at https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605251368923
Verma, R. (2025). Stealthing among female university students in India: Prevalence and association with other forms of sexual violence and PTSD. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 40(3–4), 1399677. Retrieved at https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605251399677
Weerasinghe, T. D., Godamunne, P., & Bulathwatta, A. (2025). Mitigating Social Desirability Bias in Self-Reported Data of Social Science Research: A Systematic Literature Review. Kelaniya Journal of Human Resource Management, 20(2). https://kjhrm.sljol.info/en/articles/10.4038/kjhrm.v20i2.192
Whetstone, C., & Demiroz, F. (2023). Understanding intersectionality and vulnerable populations: A missing part in building disaster resilient communities?. In Intersectionality and crisis mana-gement (pp. 18-37). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003184621-2/understanding-intersectionality-vulnerable-populations-crystal-whetstone-fatih-demiroz
Whitton, S. W., Newcomb, M. E., Messinger, A. M., Byck, G., & Mustanski, B. (2025). A longitudinal inves-tigation of intimate partner violence victimization and mental health among sexual and gender minorities assigned female at birth. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 40(3–4), 1341278. Re-trieved at https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605251341278
Yanez-Peñúñuri, L. Y., Hidalgo-Rasmussen, C. A., & Chávez-Flores, Y. V. (2023). Relationship between dating violence and mental health of young victims and perpetrators: A systematic review. In-ternational Journal of Psychological Research, 16(2), 5710. Retrieved at https://doi.org/10.21500/20112084.5710
Zhao, Y., Summers, R., Gathara, D., & English, M. (2024). Conducting cross-cultural, multi-lingual or multi-country scale development and validation in health care research: A 10-step framework based on a scoping review. Journal of Global Health, 14, 04151. Retrieved at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11257704/.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 José Alexander Velásquez Ochoa, Marianella Alicia Suárez Pizzarello, Luis Fernando Garces Giraldo, José Albán Londoño Arias, Rosana Alejandra Meleán Romero, David Alberto García-Arango, Marcela María Villa Patiño
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and ensure the magazine the right to be the first publication of the work as licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of authorship of the work and the initial publication in this magazine.
- Authors can establish separate additional agreements for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in the journal (eg, to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Is allowed and authors are encouraged to disseminate their work electronically (eg, in institutional repositories or on their own website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as to a subpoena more Early and more of published work (See The Effect of Open Access) (in English).
This journal provides immediate open access to its content (BOAI, http://legacy.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/boaifaq.htm#openaccess) on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. The authors may download the papers from the journal website, or will be provided with the PDF version of the article via e-mail.
