Features of Posttraumatic Distress Among Adolescent Athletes

OBJECTIVE: To examine features of posttraumatic distress related to sport injury among healthy and injured adolescent athletes. DESIGN AND SETTING: Healthy athletes with and without a prior injury history were screened before their competitive season, and injured and matched control athletes were surveyed at 1 week postinjury. SUBJECTS: We screened 283 athletes during the preseason and categorized them by injury history (n = 43) and no injury history (n = 240) groups. Twenty-four athletes (12 injured, 12 matched uninjured controls) were included in the postinjury analysis. MEASUREMENTS: The Impact of Events Scale, a 15-item self-report questionnaire, was used to measure athletes' frequency of experiencing intrusive thoughts and engaging in avoidance behavior regarding athletic injury. RESULTS: Athletes with a recent injury history exhibited a greater frequency of intrusive thoughts and avoidance behavior than did those without a recent injury history. Although postinjury findings did not reach statistical significance, injured athletes' scores increased by 35% to 49% from preinjury to postinjury, whereas only minimal changes (<1%) occurred in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Younger athletes may be particularly sensitive to injury-related stimuli, which may result in heightened injury-related distress.