Perfiles de personalidad relacionados con la vulnerabilidad del deportista a lesionarse.

An approach to the psychological profile of vulnerability to the injury of the athlete has become necessary in competitive sports. Subjects consisted of a total of sample were 285 males (23 non-injured) and 168 females (24 non-injured). The male athletes had an average age of 21.77 years and the female athletes of 20.55 years. The sample consisted of athletes of individual sports (tennis, athletics and swimming) and players of team sports (football, basketball and handball) belonging to different sports clubs in the Valencian Community. A Sport Competitive Anxiety Test (SCAT) was used for the evaluation of competitive anxiety; an EPR scale was used to evaluate hardiness; a Competitiveness-10 scale was used to assess competitiveness; and a specific registration form was used for the assessment of injury. The study was carried out basing on a quantitative methodology. The design of the study was observational, descriptive and correlational. The study was based on the hypothesis: the number of injuries will increase with lower levels of hardiness and success-oriented motivation, and higher levels of competitive anxiety and motivation addressed to avoid failure. The objective was to analyze the differences in the number of injuries among athletes who had a profile of vulnerability to injury (low hardiness, high competitive anxiety, low motivation for success and high motivation oriented to avoid failure) against those who did not fit that profile. According to the theoretical foundation, those placed in this profile would be more susceptible to injury. However, the results of the study indicate that men with a profile of vulnerability to injury (who should sustain more injuries) suffered fewer moderate injuries, and the total number of injuries and rate of injury were lower. Results are discussed and some conclusions of the study are indicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]