Football Team Social Structure and Perceived Support for Reporting Concussion Symptoms: Insights from a Social Network Analysis

Abstract

Social network analysis (SNA) is a uniquely situated methodology to examine the social connections between players on a team, and how team structure may be related to self-reported team cohesion and perceived support for reporting concussion symptoms. Team belonging was positively associated with number of friendship ties (degree; r = .23, p < .05), intermediate ties between teammates (betweenness; r = .21, p < .05), and support from both teammates (r = .21, p < .05) and important others (r = .21, p < .05) for reporting concussion symptoms. Additionally, an SNA-derived measure of social influence, eigenvector centrality, was associated with football identity (r = .34, p < .01), and less support from important others (r = –.24, p < .05) regarding symptom reporting. Discussion focuses on why consideration of social influence dynamics may help improve concussion-related education efforts.