PAIN COPING STYLES OF INJURED AND NONINJURED HIGH SCHOOL RODEO ATHLETES

Abstract

697 Recent studies utilizing the Sports Inventory for Pain (SIP; Meyers et al., 1992) demonstrate the ability to psychometrically identify an athlete's pain coping style. No studies, however, have addressed pain coping style in an adolescent sport population. Therefore, the purposes of this study were to 1) identify a relationship between pain coping styles and injury status, and 2) further substantiate construct and concurrent validity of the SIP in a sample of injured vs noninjured high school athletes. Following written informed consent, the SIP was administered to 89 high school athletes (40 males, 49 females; mean age= 16.1 ± 1.1 yrs) competing in the National High School Rodeo Association (NHSRA). The 25-item SIP included 5 pain dimensions: coping (COP), cognitive (COG), avoidance (AVD), catastrophizing (CAT), body awareness (BOD), and two composite scores (HURT=COP+COG-CAT-AVD; OUCH=COP+COG-CAT). Current injury status (20 injured, 69 noninjured) was determined by self-response questionnaire. MANOVA indicated a significant injury status(Wilks' Lambda F5,82 = 3.53, p =.006) effect. Subsequent ANOVAs revealed that injured athletes scored higher in COG (34.1 ± 1.2 vs 30.0± 0.6; p =.003), HURT (29.5 ± 2.3 vs 24.1 ± 1.2; p =.04), and OUCH (41.7 ± 1.9 vs 36.5 ± 1.0; p =.02) than noninjured athletes. In conclusion, significant differences in pain coping styles exist between injured and noninjured high school rodeo athletes. This study provides further evidence of construct and concurrent validity of the SIP. Further research delineating and contrasting pain coping strategies in traditional sport athletes seems warranted.