Does wearing headgear influence risk compensation in adolescent female lacrosse?

The implementation of a headgear mandate in girls' lacrosse has encountered concerns that the use of headgear may lead to risk-taking behaviors, thereby causing more aggressive gameplay. This study aims to investigate perceptions of headgear use and the potential effect of headgear on risk compensation.

Adolescent female aged 13-19 years participating on a high school or club girls' lacrosse team completed a Qualtrics survey consisting of questions about age, years of experience, player position, headgear use, the effect headgear would have on their gameplay and completed the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale (BSSS-8).

A total of 315 survey responses were collected. The average age of participants was 17 ± 1.5 years, with 46% possessing 1-3 years of experience. A total of 61.9% of participants reported not wearing headgear. The average Brief Sensation Seeking Scale score across all participants was 2.96 ± 0.86, with 3.14 ± 0.89 in the headgear group and 2.84 ± 0.82 in the non-headgear group, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference between headgear groups (p = 0.002) with a moderate effect size [t(311) = -3.08]. Significant positive correlations were found between headgear use and BSSS score (r = .17, p = .022, 95.00% CI = [.06, .27]), headgear use and age (r = .32, p < .001, 95.00% CI = [.22, .42]), and BSSS scores and age (r = .20, p = .002, 95.00% CI = [.10, .31]).

A relationship between headgear use and BSSS scores was confirmed through multiple statistical approaches, with headgear wearers consistently showing higher risk perception scores than non-headgear wearers. This finding persisted even when controlling for other variables, suggesting that headgear usage may positively influence safety awareness among female lacrosse players.