| Using the theoretical framework of the Integrated Model of Psychological Response to the Sport Injury and Rehabilitation Process (Wiese-Bjornstal, Smith, Shaffer, & Morrey, 1998), the purpose of this study was to determine the type and nature of coping strategies employed by injured collegiate athletes in relation to a variety of injury characteristics, psychological factors, and social influences. Participants comprising this study were one hundred and twenty-eight male (n = 56) and female (n = 72) intercollegiate athletes who had incurred an injury, competing in one of sixteen intercollegiate sports at six different NCAA Division I and Division II universities. Athletes completed a set of questionnaires measuring demographic and injury related information, athletic identity, depression and anxiety levels, postinjury relations with coaches and teammates, satisfaction with social support, instrumental coping, emotional preoccupation coping, and palliative coping strategies.; Results demonstrated that instrumental coping was the most frequently used coping strategy by injured collegiate athletes. No significant differences were found on the coping strategies relied upon by the participants according to gender, athletic division status, and scholarship status. Discriminant function analyses identified a number of injury, psychological, and social characteristics that were predictive of athletes' levels of reliance on each of the three types of coping strategies (high, moderate, and low usage of emotional preoccupation coping, palliative coping, and instrumental coping). A cluster analysis was performed and revealed three unique subgroups of injured athletes who demonstrated similar patterns of injury characteristics, psychological and social influences, and coping strategy use. In general, the analyses highlighted the importance of athletic identity, social support, goal endangerment, and affective responses (depression and anxiety) to injured athletes' coping responses.; This study provided support for the Integrated Model of Psychological Response to the Sport Injury and Rehabilitation Process as a useful theoretical framework in relation to understanding injured athletes' psychological, emotional, and behavioral responses to athletic injury. The findings of this study have several practical implications for structuring effective interventions with injured athletes. Future research needs to continue to investigate the influence of psychological, social, and injury characteristics in relation to the coping strategies of injured athletes. |
