COMPETITIVE ANXIETY AND INJURIES:SPORT FACTORS, TYPES AND INJURY GRAVITY

摘要

Sport psychologists have analyzed, for a long time, the relation between anxiety and injuries incidence. This line of investigation, nevertheless, has had different problems, among them: the lack of homogeneity in athletes' samples, the shortage of studies in different sports categories, the lack of a clear understanding of the concept anxiety in the sports context, and, therefore, the adequacy of the instruments of measurement. The aim of the present work is to determine the relations between the level of competitive trait anxiety and the injuries of young football players. Sample is formed by 72 football players, between 14 and 24 years old, with an average of 17, 2 years (± 2, 7). An auto-report questionnaire that was collecting information of sports type was applied to all the football players, as well as the one derived from injuries. For the evaluation of the trait anxiety, it was used the Test of Trait Anxiety in Sport (SCAT) of Martens (1977). Results indicate, on one hand, that injuries produced during trainings double those produced in matches, and that the most frequent injuries are of a slight, moderate muscular nature; on the other hand, that trait anxiety reveals a significant relation with the number of injuries and with injuries produced during matches. Researchers, whose area of study are factors affecting injuries production, agree about causality of the injury must be understood in a multi-factorial way, where psychological factors, have an important role, like for example, competitive anxiety.