NFL Spouses and Partners Face High Levels of Caregiver Burden, Anxiety, and Depression

Key points:

• Family Experiences Managing Football Lives (FEM-FL), led by researchers with the Football Players Health Study at Harvard University, has published a first of its kind study of health and wellness among the spouses and partners of former and current NFL players.
• Researchers found that participants who reported their own health as poor experienced more symptoms of caregiver burden, anxiety, and depression.
• Increased marital satisfaction was more common among those with fewer symptoms of caregiver burden, anxiety, and depression.
• Spouses and partners who had concerns about chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and/or a history of football-related relocations experienced more symptoms of caregiver burden.

In its inaugural publication, Family Experiences Managing Football Lives (FEM-FL), a research initiative focused on spouses and partners of current and former NFL players, identified novel risk factors that may be linked to caregiver burden, anxiety, and depression.

The study was conducted by researchers with the Football Players Health Study at Harvard University. It was published in Frontiers in Psychology on May 7, 2025.

FEM-FL was developed in response to concerns expressed by NFL families that professional football has impacted not just their husband’s or partner’s health, but their own as well. To date, 172 partners of active and former NFL players have participated in the study. Their average age is 48, and 28.8% self-identify as Black. The study remains open for new participants to join.

The study found that participants who reported their own health as poor also reported increased levels of caregiver burden, anxiety, and depression compared to those who rated their own health positively. Notably, participants who reported concerns about chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) reported levels of caregiver burdenon par with that of military families, and higher than family members caring for partners with cancer, dementia, or of advanced age. Participants with a history of numerous relocations also reported increased caregiver burden. Higher ratings of marital satisfaction were linked to reduced caregiver burden, anxiety, and depression.

“Our findings highlight clear vulnerabilities within the community of spouses and partners of American-style football players, and identify who may be most in need of extra support,” said co-lead author Niki Konstantinides, postdoctoral fellow for the Football Players Health Study.

“We believe these data give visibility and validation to what NFL spouses and partners may be experiencing,” said senior author Alicia Whittington, assistant director of engagement and health equity research for the Football Players Health Study.

According to the authors, future FEM-FL research should explore whether interventions that exclusively address health concerns of NFL family members and that boost marital satisfaction may reduce caregiver burden, anxiety, and depression.

 

Funding and Disclosures: The Football Players Health Study is supported by the NFLPA. The NFLPA did not contribute to the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication. This work received support from Harvard Catalyst | The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center (National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Award UM1TR004408) and financial contributions from Harvard University and its affiliated academic healthcare centers. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of Harvard Catalyst, Harvard University and its affiliated academic healthcare centers, or the National Institutes of Health.