Affective Response Patterns of the Injured Athlete: An Exploratory Analysis

Abstract

This study examined the affective response pattern of severely injured athletes. Five athletes from an NCAA Division I university athletic program were followed within 24 hours of injury for 4 weeks. On two nonconsecutive days a week at the same time and place, the athletes completed the Profile of Mood States and indicated their perceived percent rehabilitation. In addition, at the first meeting the athletes were given the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale and a demographic data sheet. At the final meeting the athletes completed an open-ended questionnaire designed to explore affective, cognitive, and behavioral reflections about rehabilitation. ANOVA indicated that affect significantly changed (p<.05) across the 4 week period. Post hoc analyses indicated that this change fits a two-stage process: Stage 1, Times 1−2; Stage 2, Times 3−8, with the two stages being significantly different from each other. The correlation between perceived rehabilitation and total mood disturbance was r=−.69, p<.0001. Correlations for each affective measure and perceived rehabilitation indicated that affective patterns of the rehabilitating athlete were highly related to the perception of rehabilitation, with negative affect diminishing and positive affect increasing as perceived rehabilitation increased.