Investigation of the Relationship Between Mental Training and Sports Injury Anxiety

The aim of the study was to determine the sport injury anxiety and mental training level of the athletes. The relationship between mental training and sport injury anxiety was also investigated. A total of 179 (78 males, 101 females) athletes, aged x̄= 20.57±1.80 years, licensed for at least 1 year in a team or individual sports branches, voluntarily participated. “The Sport Mental Training Questionnaire” adapted to Turkish by Yarayan and İlhan (31) and “The Sports Injury Anxiety Scale” adapted to Turkish by Caz et al. (8) were applied to the athletes. According to gender and branch variables, injury anxiety and mental training status were analyzed using t-test. Pearson's correlation analysis was used for the relationship between injury anxiety and mental training in sports. The study findings examination according to the gender variable in the sport injury anxiety scale showed a statistically significant difference found in favor of female athletes in the sub-dimensions “Loss of Social Support” (p=.024); “Being Perceived as Weak” (p=.045); “Experiencing Pain” (p=.012) and in the total scale point (p=.037). According to the branch variable, there is no statistically significant difference observed in the sub-dimensions of the injury anxiety scale and in the total scale (p gt;.05). According to the gender variable, a statistically significant difference in favor of women was observed in the self-talk sub-dimension of the sport mental training questionnaire (p = .048). However, it was concluded that mental training status did not make a statistically significant difference between athletes interested in team or individual sports branches. As a result, male athletes have higher injury anxiety levels than female. Self-talk is more commonly practiced by female athletes during mental training. There is no relationship between mental training and sports injury anxiety.