Injury of elite athletes: Sport‐ and gender‐related representations

The study investigated psychocognitive processes used by athletes following an injury. Based on a differential perspective, the study evaluates the effects of the type the sport (individual vs. team), of gender on representations, believes, and causal attributional processes. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of athletes discourses confirmed the traumatic nature of the injuries causing major psychological disturbances. The results suggested that the discourse varied significantly as a function of type of sport, but the representations, the attributional processes, and the coping strategies varied significantly as a function of gender. Injuries have not only negative consequences such as pain, but also positive consequences such as the discovery of new relations with the body, the psychological transformation, and under some circumstance, the progress. Injuries may be seen in a context in which the athlete strengthens own autonomy and increases the level maturity.