| Description |
Over 12,500 injuries occur at the NCAA collegiate level every year. According to Williams and Andersen's stress-injury model, appraisals of stress in competitive situations may result in a stress response (attentional disruptions and physiological decrements), which heighten athletes' risk for injury. Personality, history of stressors, and coping resources are also posited to moderate the strength of the stress response and the subsequent likelihood of injury. In testing the model, researchers have generally examined direct relationships between so-called "moderator" variables and injury occurrence. Much less attention, however, has been paid to the attentional and physiological mechanisms that are predicted to mediate the stress appraisal-injury relationship. In particular, researchers have seldom assessed the influence of athlete stress appraisals on injury occurrence immediately prior to the athletic event. Furthermore, there has yet to be any examination of how an athlete's stress mindset (a general orientation towards stress as facilitative or debilitative) might increase or decrease the strength of the stress response and consequent risk of injury. The purpose of this research, therefore, was to examine the moderating influence of athletes' stress mindset on the relationship between stress appraisals and injury occurrence. One hundred ninety-three collegiate athletes from NCAA Division III schools completed measures assessing their stress mindset and cognitive appraisals of a sport-specific competitive event. The stress mindset was measured using the stress mindset measure, while cognitive appraisals were assessed immediately prior to one competitive event using the demand and resource appraisals questionnaire. Injury occurrence (defined as missing at least one single day of training or competition, or experiencing modified participation for one or more days) was documented by sport medicine staff. Moderation analyses using logistic regression were conducted to examine relationships of interest. Findings demonstrated that athletes typically appraised their competition as not stressful and generally perceived stress to be debilitating. Furthermore, no significant relationships between cognitive appraisals, stress mindset and sport injury occurred. While results of the present study were nonsignificant, understanding the precursors to sport injury remains a crucial topic to both understand and ultimately prevent sport injury so that athletes can safely participate in collegiate sport. |
