Pain coping response of collegiate athletes involved in high contact, high injury-potential sport Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Efforts to address psychological indices of performance following injury have increased in the last decade due to an observed increase in athleticism and a concomitant rise in the number of severe injuries. Of great concern, however, is the paucity of studies directed toward college athletes involved in high contact, high injury-potential sports. Taking a proactive approach to understanding athletic response to injury prior to actual trauma rather than simply attributing physical trauma to the inherent nature of contact sports would enhance the opportunity to head off potential subject-related risk factors. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to: a) examine pain coping response in collegiate athletes, and b) quantify possible differences across rank/skill level, injury-potential, and gender. Following written informed consent, the Sports Inventory for Pain (SIP) was administered to 185 college athletes competing in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA). MANOVAs indicated significant rank (F5,177= 2.79, p < .02), injury potential (F5,177= 3.69, p < .003), and gender (F5,177= 2.25, p < .05) effects. Post hoc procedures indicated that top-ranked athletes scored lower in cognitive (p < .005) and body awareness (p < .02), and higher in avoidance (p < .03) than bottom-ranked athletes. Athletes competing in high injury-potential events scored lower in catastrophizing (p < .006) and higher in body awareness (p < .03) than athletes in low injury-potential events, respectively. Males scored higher than females in body awareness (p < .01). In conclusion, significant differences in pain coping response exist across rank, gender, and injury-potential. Findings also demonstrate that the SIP can be used to differentiate between rank and injury-potential, thus providing partial confirmation of construct validity of the SIP. These findings may be used as a starting point for continued research delineating and contrasting pain coping response in traditional sport athletes.

published proceedings

  • International Journal of Sport Psychology

author list (cited authors)

  • Meyers, M. C., Bourgeois, A. E., & Leunes, A.

complete list of authors

  • Meyers, MC||Bourgeois, AE||Leunes, A

publication date

  • January 2001