The relationship between athletic identity and kinesiophobia in young athletes with prior sport-related injury

Objectives: Athletic identity, the degree to which an individual identifies with the athlete role, and kinesiophobia, the fear of reinjury, are both psychological factors that play a role in a young athlete's performance and injury rehabilitation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between athletic identity and kinesiophobia in young athletes with recent sports-related injury. Methods: A convenience sample of 220 participants completed a series of surveys including the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS) and the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia (TSK-11). Data analysis included Mann-Whitney U tests and Spearman correlations. Results: A total of 220 young athletes with a recent sports-related injury (52.7% female; 14.6 ± 2.0 years; 8.3 ± 3.0 years active in sport) were included for analysis. The majority of participants played soccer (42.8%), basketball (25.2%), and baseball/softball (11.3%) and had a high sport specialization level (64.9%). AIMS total score was 54.70 ± 8.77 (range: 8-70), indicating a relatively strong athletic identity. TSK-11 total score was 19.27 ± 5.82 (range: 11-44), indicating slight kinesiophobia. No significant sex differences were found; however, significant relationships were found between TSK-11 score and AIMS subscales as well as between AIMS subscales. TSK-11 total score demonstrated weak but statistically significant positive correlations with age, exclusivity, and negative affectivity. In regard to AIMS subscales, there was a weakly positive correlation between exclusivity and social identity, but a moderately positive correlation between exclusivity and negative affectivity. Conclusions: These results indicate that athletes with a stronger athletic identity may suffer psychological consequences that could have clinical implications on injury rehabilitation. Future work should seek to validate the current study's findings and identify other psychosocial factors involved in this relationship.