SOCIAL PRESSURE, SOCIAL SUPPORT, AND HELP SEEKING FOR PAIN AND INJURIES IN COLLEGE SPORTS NETWORKS

Abstract

Using data from a survey of college athletes in an NCAA Division I athletic program, this article shows how interaction with significant others (coaches, teammates, and athletic trainers or physical therapists) in a campus sports network, social status (gender and race), status in sport (holding an athletic scholarship), and the structure of a sport (individual or team sport) affect the pain and injury behavior of athletes. The dependent variables of interest in this study are the willingness of athletes to talk with these significant others about pain and injuries, the likelihood that they will turn to these significant others for help or encouragement with their sports injuries, and the likelihood that they will avoid coaches, teammates, and trainers when they are hurt or try to hide their pain and injuries from them. Although a number of effects of predictor variables are reported in this study, the most noteworthy ones may be the effects of a sympathetic or caring attitude of trainers on the tendencies for athletes to seek information and seek help from them. It also is noteworthy that no effects of gender or significant others' discouragement of playing hurt were found.