Mark B. Andersen

Psychosocial antecedents of sport injury: Review and critique of the stress and injury model'

Abstract To counter the narrow scope and atheoretical nature of early research, Andersen and Williams (1988) developed a multi-component theoretical model of stress and injury. The model proposes that athletes with a history of many stressors, personality characteristics that exacerbate the stress response, and few coping resources will. when placed in a stressful situation, be more likely to appraise the situation as stressful and to exhibit greater physiological activation and attentional disruptions. The severity of the resulting stress response is the mechanism proposed to cause the injury risk. The model also proposes interventions for reducing injury risk. For the last decade. this stress-injury model has helped to provide the impetus and theoretical base for much of the psychosocial injury research. The present article examines research support for the different components of the model. The article concludes with suggestions for potential changes to the model and future research needs.

Athletic injury, psychosocial factors and perceptual changes during stress

In this study, we measured changes in state anxiety, visual perception and reaction time during stress among 196 collegiate athletes participating in 10 sports. The athletes also completed measures of life events and social support at the beginning of their seasons. Measures of life events stress, social support, perceptual changes and changes in reaction time during stress were used as predictors of the number of injuries. For the entire sample, the only significant predictor of injury was negative life events stress (R = 0.45, P < 0.001). Following the suggestions of Smith et al., simple correlations were performed for those with least social support (bottom 33%, n = 65). Among this group, those individuals with more negative life events and greater peripheral narrowing during stress incurred more injuries than those with the opposite profile. Our findings are in line with the model of Andersen and Williams, in that those individuals who were low in a variable that buffers stress responsivity (i.e. social support), their negative life events and peripheral narrowing under stress (large and medium effect sizes, respectively) were substantially related to their number of injuries.

Sport psychology service delivery: staying ethical while keeping loose.

Although the parent discipline of sport psychology is psychology, the delivery of sport psychology services has its main roots in physical education and sports science (motor learning and control, skill acquisition). Thus, sport psychologists may look more like coaches than they look like clinicians or counselors. In this article, the authors trace the evolution of sport psychology services and contrast the temporal, spatial, and delivery issues of applied sport psychology with more mainstream counseling and clinical psychology. The looser boundaries of sport psychologist practice have both benefits and dangers, and the authors offer some examples to professional psychologists who are thinking of expanding their delivery of service to athletes and coaches.

Effects of Life-Event Stress on Anxiety and Peripheral Narrowing

This study examined one of the mechanisms proposed to be behind the relationship between life stress and injury. Past researchers have identified a correlation between high life stress and athletic injury for contact and noncontact sports and for male and female athletes, but they did not investigate why athletes who experienced stress from life events were more prone to injury than those whose lives were low in stressful events. The authors tested the hypothesis that recreational athletes with high life-event stress would, when placed in a stressful, dual-task laboratory situation, experience greater narrowing of peripheral vision and state anxiety than recreational athletes with low life-event stress. ANOVA and regression results offered support for peripheral vision deficits as a potential mechanism in the life stress-injury relationship and very minimal support the effect of elevated state anxiety. The great variability in peripheral vision changes for the groups with high life stress suggests that, for certain subjects, some unmeasured variable may be buffering the adverse impact of high life-event stress. The authors recommend that future researchers examine potential moderating variables, such as coping resources, and assess the relative contributions of psychosocial variables, stress history variables, and mediating mechanisms in predicting actual injuries.

Psychological Intervention Programs for Reduction of Injury in Ballet Dancers

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of two psychological interventions designed to reduce injury among dancers by enhancing coping skills. Participants were 35 ballet dancers. They were assigned to three conditions: control (n = 12), autogenic training (n = 12), and a broad-based coping skills condition, including autogenic training, imagery, and self-talk (n = 11). The 12-week interventions were designed on the basis of results from previous studies. For the 12 weeks following the intervention, participants were asked to practice their respective interventions three times a week. During the 24-week period (12 weeks training plus 12 weeks practice), training staff at the dance academies recorded injuries on a record sheet each day. Participants wrote injury records by themselves for another 24 weeks. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and univariate tests for each dependent variable showed that the broad-based coping skills condition enhanced coping skills, in particular, peaking under pressure, coping with adversity, having confidence and achievement motivation, and concentrating. Separate analyses of covariance (ANCOVA), one using preintervention injury frequency as the covariate and one using preintervention injury duration as the covariate, revealed that participants in the broad-based coping skills condition spent less time injured than participants in the control condition.

The effects of stressors and coping resources on anxiety and peripheral narrowing

Abstract The purpose of the study was to examine possible mechanisms which might help explain why individuals with high life stress and/or low coping resources are at greater risk for incurring athletic injuries. The effects of life events, daily hassles (DH), and coping resources (CR) on state anxiety and peripheral vision narrowing during a stress condition were examined. Subjects were 74 recreational athletes who completed the Life Events Survey, Daily Hassles Scale (DHS), Vulnerability to Stress Questionnaire (CR), and state portion of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Peripheral vision was measured alone during baseline and while simultaneously performing a Stroop Color-Word Test accompanied by distracting noise during the stress condition. State anxiety was assessed during baseline and the stress condition. Analyses of covariance revealed that high negative life events (NLE) (p = .01) were related to greater peripheral narrowing during the stress condition. High TLE (p = .01) and DH (p = .005) were...

Relaxation and Health-Related Quality of Life in Multiple Sclerosis: The Example of Autogenic Training

This study was a pilot project to explore the effect of an autogenic training program (AT; a relaxation intervention) on the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and well-being for people with multiple sclerosis. Participants either met weekly for sessions in AT for 10 weeks (n = 11) or were assigned to the control group (n = 11). The AT group was also asked to practice the technique daily at home. Scales designed to measure HRQOL and aspects of well-being (mood and depressed affect) were taken preintervention and at week 8 of the 10-week program. ANCOVAs using a measure of social support and pretest scores as covariates revealed that at the posttest the AT group reported more energy and vigor than the control group and were less limited in their roles due to physical and emotional problems. Future research should involve studies conducted over an extended period, together with sufficiently sized samples to explore the effect of frequency of practice of relaxation training on HRQOL and well-being for people with multiple sclerosis.

Psychosocial Influences on Central and Peripheral Vision and Reaction Time During Demanding Tasks

We examined perceptual deficits hypothesized in a model of stress and injury relationships. An ophthalmologic perimeter was used to measure peripheral and central vision during baseline and demanding task situations for 201 intercollegiate athletes from 10 sports. We conducted analyses of covariance with the stress measures as dependent variables and their appropriate baseline measures as covariates. Performance under demanding tasks deteriorated significantly on all the perceptual variables. Individuals with high negative life events scores experienced greater peripheral narrowing and slower central vision reaction time during stress than did those with life events scores that were low. Men with low social support had more failures to detect cues, and men with high negative life events, low social support, and low coping skills had the lowest perceptual sensitivity. Women with high negative life events and low coping skills had more failures to detect cues. We discuss the findings in terms of how stress responsivity may influence injury risk through changes in perception and attention.

Positive states of mind and athletic injury risk.

&NA; Horowitz, Adler, and Kegeles recently developed the Positive States of Mind (PSOM) scale to assess the ability to achieve desirable states of mind. According to a stress and injury model, a theoretical foundation exists for the PSOM being used to predict vulnerability to athletic injuries. In the first study, 277 collegiate athletes from 10 sports completed the PSOM. The scale showed good internal consistency; Cronbachs alpha was .77 for the six items. Principle components factor analysis revealed two distinct factors. No sex or ethnic differences occurred for the total PSOM scale or the two factors. In the second study, injury data were gathered throughout the season on 82 athletes who completed the PSOM. Pearson‐product correlations revealed the factor, Focused on Task, significantly correlated with injury. Athletes able to attain higher positive states of mind were less at risk for injury. The studies indicate the acceptability of using the PSOM with an athletic population and its usefulness as a potential predictor of injury risk. Future research using the PSOM scale in more general injury and accident investigations is suggested.

The sanctity of p < .05 obfuscates good stuff: A comment on kerr and goss

Sports injuries can be a major source of both personal and financial hardship, and Kerr and Goss (1996) in their article “The Effects of a Stress Management Program on Injuries and Stress Levels” have conducted important research that has implications for the health and welfare of many athletes. Besides suggesting some potential avenues for reducing the incidence of injury, Kerr and Goss have presented a study that offers an opportunity to discuss some issues related to statistical inference, null hypothesis testing, power, and the requirement that p be less than .05. Past research and writings on psychosocial factors and athletic injury have focused on two major areas: antecedents and consequences of injury (Brewer, 1994; Petrie, 1992; Williams, Hogan, & Andersen, 1993). The literature has been noticeably bereft of studies directed at what most sport psychologists, coaches, athletic trainers, and athletes would probably consider the central issue, and that is reducing injury risk in sport. In 1991, Davis presented results that suggested a simple program of progressive relaxation could decrease injury rates. In turn, it was 5 years before another such injury prevention study appeared in the literature (i.e., Kerr & Goss, 1996).