Causal Attribution Dimensions and Adjustment To Sport Injury

Abstract

A study of 31 patients (20 males and 11 females) at a sports medicine clinic who attributed their injuries to overtraining or overuse was conducted to examine the relationship between causal attribution dimensions and psychological adjustment to sport injury. Participants completed a battery of questionnaires that included the Profile of Mood States (POMS) and an attribution measure in which participants were asked to identify the main cause of their injuries and to rate the perceived cause of injury in terms of internality, stability, and globality dimensions. The attribu-tional dimensions accounted for 55% of the variance (p < .0005) in POMS total mood disturbance (TMD) scores. Internality (ft =– .38, p < .01) and stability (ft = –.58, p < .0005) were inversely related to TMD. These findings were essentially the same when statistically controlling for injury duration, injury severity, and injury status. The findings suggest that attributing overuse injuries to internal and stable factors may have adaptive value.