Of current and former Swedish cheerleading athletes, 29% reported being subjected to psychological abuse in the sport, according to a new study from Linköping University, Sweden. The study shows that dissatisfaction with leadership, injuries, high expectations and bad atmosphere in the team are major reasons why athletes give up the sport.

The study is published in the Journal of Sports Sciences.

“It’s similar to what we see in other sports: that it’s primarily psychological abuse that stands out,” says Carolina Lundqvist, docent in psychology and sports science and licensed psychotherapist at the Department of Behavioral Sciences at Linköping University.

In a survey, 211 active and 73 former competitive athletes aged 15 years and older answered questions about psychological, physical and sexual abuse in the sport as well as about their own health.

As far as is known, this is the first time in the world that such a study has been conducted on cheerleading, which is growing rapidly in Sweden. There are about 18,000 practitioners, many of whom are children and young people.

“But we have a problem of athletes quitting in the upper secondary school age group. We wanted to investigate why and bring about a change,” says Katarina Eriksson, general secretary of the Swedish Cheerleading Federation.

The most common reason was experience of psychological abuse. This could involve being frozen out of the community, diminished or devalued, being manipulated or experiencing threats. The severity of the abuse experienced was not measured in this study.

The second most common reason for quitting was that athletes experienced a lack of support when someone in a position of responsibility knew of harassment or abuse but took no action. About 5% of current and 27% of former athletes reported that they had experienced this.

The consequence may be that the athlete retires prematurely. More than 35% of former athletes reported that they had quit because of their coaches’ leadership and 34% gave injuries as the reason; 27% reported high expectations as the cause and 22% poor team cohesion and atmosphere.

Previous research shows that it is often only after their career that athletes talk about various forms of abuse. According to Lundqvist, this may be because attitudes and behaviors are normalized in sports environments and that it is only afterwards that they realize what they have actually been through. The athlete may also be worried about becoming even more vulnerable if they speak out about abuse.

The results of the study point to the importance of educating leaders at all levels and actively working with initiatives that ensure that sports environments are safe, healthy and nurturing.

“I think old norms and an attitude that puts performance before health are what’s getting in the way,” says Lundqvist.

The Cheerleading Federation has now begun work on developing training courses for coaches and has already drawn up a new code of conduct for leaders. Since many in the study indicated injuries as a reason for quitting, the federation wants to increase coaches’ knowledge of how training can be conducted to prevent injuries.

The survey was sent to around 800 active or formerly active athletes in October and November 2023. The response rate was just over 35%.