Competitive Anxiety and Injury Risk for Collegiate Athletes: A Critically Appraised Topic
Date
2-14-2024
Faculty Mentor
Christopher Clark, Kinesiology; Jennifer Burgett, Kinesiology; David Kean, Kinesiology
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Submission Type
Conference Proceeding
Location
11:00-11:10am | Houston Cole Library, 11th Floor
Description
Context: Competitive anxiety is an athlete's negative emotional reaction when their self-esteem is threatened due to a competition/task that is perceived as unattainable. Competitive anxiety affects athletes at all levels. Specially, collegiate athletes face numerous obstacles that may increase their risk for competitive anxiety. Collegiate athletes with competitive anxiety are at a greater risk for injury. Therefore, the purpose of this critically appraised topic is to examine the relationship of injury occurrence and competitive anxiety in collegiate athletes.
Methods: A computerized search was conducted in October 2023. The search terms used were “collegiate”, “athletes'', “anxiety”, “competitive”, “performance”, “preseason”, “injury”, “risk”, and “incidence”. Electronic databases used were Sport Discus, Medline, CINAHL, and Google Scholar. Inclusion criteria included articles from the year 2000 until present, written in the English language, and peer reviewed journals. Articles excluded contained high school and professional athletes and athletes that had previous injury history. The research was appraised using the STROBE. One author independently reviewed the studies, scored each paper, and reviewed the completed appraisals to come to a consensus on the study quality.
Results: The literature search retrieved 60 total articles and 56 were excluded based on the exclusion criteria, resulting in four studies. The results of three articles demonstrated a correlation between competitive anxiety and an increased risk for injury, with one article showing no relationship. Therefore, competitive anxiety has increased among collegiate athletes due to various obstacles relating to a collegiate lifestyle. The added stress of entering college, competing for a starting position, and academics play a significant role. Twenty-one percent of 615 collegiate athletes scored at risk for anxiety and 28.8% of 958 reported preseason anxiety symptoms. In addition to collegiate lifestyle changes, injuries are prevalent in collegiate sports with an athlete averaging two injuries during a competitive season. Approximately 52.8% of 597 injuries athletes reported anxiety concerns before the injury occurred. Collegiate athletes with anxiety demonstrated a significantly higher injury incidence rate compared to collegiate athletes with no competitive anxiety symptoms: 38.9 vs 16.3 per 10,000 athletic events. Furthermore, seeking treatment is a concern among collegiate athletes. One in five athletes admit having anxiety concerns, but only 50% seek treatment. Overall, the evidence demonstrates a correlation between competitive anxiety and increased risk for injury among collegiate athletes.
Conclusions: The aspect of competitive anxiety creates an environment conducive for injury. With the transition from high school to college, collegiate athletes are faced with numerous obstacles, which makes them more susceptible for anxiety development. Overcoming barriers that athletes face and proper screening will assist athletes to seek proper treatment. Future research should examine the effectiveness of preseason screening and coping strategies that will help reduce anxiety before competition.
Keywords
student research, kinesiology
Rights
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Disciplines
Kinesiotherapy
Recommended Citation
Hamilton, Cole, "Competitive Anxiety and Injury Risk for Collegiate Athletes: A Critically Appraised Topic" (2024). JSU Student Symposium 2024. 27.
https://digitalcommons.jsu.edu/ce_jsustudentsymp_2024/27