Background: Concerns exist about the prevalence of abuse directed towards sports officials and its impact on their mental health; however, sports officiating can also be a rewarding experience.

Objectives: The present study aimed to identify the frequency and determinants of both positive (e.g. praise, appreciation, apologies) and negative (e.g. verbal abuse, physical abuse, social media abuse) officiating interactions and to examine their independent contributions to mental ill-health symptoms.

Methods: An online, cross-sectional survey was distributed to current or former sports officials operating on a voluntary or paid basis in the United Kingdom (UK). Participants completed validated measures of mental ill-health symptoms (Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale) and daily hassles (LIVES-Daily Hassles Scale) and reported the frequency with which they experienced positive and negative officiating interactions.

Results: A total of 320 sports officials (73.8% male; mean age ± standard deviation (SD) = 49.99 ± 15.86 years) completed the survey with the most represented sports including cricket (30.3%), rugby union (24.4%) and football (soccer) [16.9%]. Regular positive officiating interactions were experienced by 90.0% of sports officials and regular negative officiating interactions by 22.2%. Logistic regression analyses revealed that male sports officials (odds ratio (OR) = 3.95; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.34, 11.65) were significantly more likely to experience regular positive interactions, while football officials (OR = 7.33; 95% CI = 1.38, 38.90) were significantly more likely to experience regular negative interactions. When controlling for daily hassles, age and sex, regular positive interactions were independently associated with lower odds of depression (OR = 0.38; 95% CI = 0.15, 0.92) and anxiety (OR = 0.33; 95% CI = 0.13, 0.82) symptoms. However, regular negative officiating interactions were not independently associated with mental ill-health symptoms.

Conclusions: Positive officiating interactions were commonly experienced and independently predicted lower odds of mental ill-health symptoms. Approximately one fifth of officials reported regular negative interactions, although this was notably higher among football officials. No independent association existed between negative interactions and mental ill-health symptoms, and future research should determine if positive interactions help to offset the impact of negative ones for sports officials.

© 2025. The Author(s).

背景： 人们对针对体育裁判的虐待行为及其对心理健康影响的关注日益增加；然而，担任体育裁判也可以是一种有益的经历。

目的： 本研究旨在识别正面（如表扬、感谢、道歉）和负面（如语言暴力、身体暴力、社交媒体上的攻击性言论）的裁判互动发生的频率及其决定因素，并考察这些互动各自对心理疾病症状的独立贡献。

方法： 一项在线横断面调查被分发给在英国（UK）以自愿或受薪方式从事体育裁判工作的现任或前任裁判。参与者完成了心理健康症状（抑郁、焦虑和压力量表，DASS）以及日常烦恼（LIVES-日常烦恼量表）的验证性测量，并报告了他们经历正面和负面裁判互动的频率。

结果： 共有320名体育裁判完成了调查问卷（73.8%为男性；平均年龄±标准差(SD) = 49.99 ± 15.86岁），其中最受代表的运动包括板球（30.3%）、英式橄榄球（24.4%）和足球（16.9%）。90.0%的体育裁判经常体验正面的裁判互动，而22.2%的人则经历负面的裁判互动。逻辑回归分析显示，男性体育裁判（比值比(OR) = 3.95；95%置信区间(CI) = 1.34, 11.65）更有可能经常体验到正面互动，而足球裁判（比值比(OR) = 7.33；95%置信区间(CI) = 1.38, 38.90）则更可能频繁经历负面的互动。在控制日常烦恼、年龄和性别的情况下，经常性正面互动独立与抑郁症状（比值比(OR) = 0.38；95%置信区间(CI) = 0.15, 0.92）和焦虑症状（比值比(OR) = 0.33；95%置信区间(CI) = 0.13, 0.82）的较低概率相关。然而，经常性负面裁判互动并未独立与心理疾病症状相关。

结论： 正面的裁判互动普遍发生，并且能够独立预测心理健康疾病的低风险。大约五分之一的裁判报告了频繁经历负面互动的情况，尽管在足球裁判中这一比例更高。没有发现负面互动和心理疾病症状之间的独立联系，未来的研究应该确定积极互动是否有助于减轻对体育裁判的负面影响。