Abstract

The relationship between psychological mood state patterns and the incidence of injury was studied among collegiate rodeo performers. Precompetitive and noncompetitive psychological vigor (VIG) scores were determined from completed inventories of the Profile of Mood States (POMS). Other variables identified by the POMS included tension (TEN), depression (DEP), fatigue (FAT), confusion (CON) and total mood disturbance (TMD). 99 male collegiate rodeo athletes completed the tests immediately prior to competition and during nonparticipation time. Injury data concerning etiology, incidence and anatomical region were concomitantly ccompiled by medical diagnosis by attending physsicians, hospital records, self-reporting by athletes and the investigator's field evaluation during each rodeo. Pearson product correlation revealed no significant association between any mood state variable prior to competition and the incidence of upper body injuries, lower body injuries, or total injuries among the collegiate rodeo athletes abserved and tested. Significant inverse relationships were found between both the number of lower body injuries and total body injuries and non-competitive baseline vigor, indicating that as the number of injuries increased there was a corresponding decrease in noncompetitive vigor. Results indicate that a relationship may exist between incidence of athletic injury and vigor-arousal state of athletes involved in high collision, non-traditional sports. Verf.-Referat (gekuerzt)