The influence of life stress, competitive trait anxiety, and sleep disturbance on injury susceptibility in football

Aim: The purpose of the current study was to analyse the effect of life stress, competitive trait anxiety and sleep disturbance on injury susceptibility in football players. Methods: Participants were 67 male football players from different teams in Cologne ranging in age from 18 to 25 years (M = 21.09 years; SD = 2.69). Participants filled out four questionnaires: The Holmes-Rahe life stress scale, the sport competition anxiety test (SCAT), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Centre (OSTRC) questionnaire on health problems. Results: Results suggest that while life stress may increase the injury susceptibility, competitive trait anxiety, and sleep disturbance have no effect on injury susceptibility. Concerning this descriptive data, 53.7 % (36/67) of the players stayed away from the football field for at least one week, and about 23.8 % (16/67) of them did not have any injury during this four months’ period. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that high life stress levels caused athletic injury; for these reasons the psychological dimension should be considered and adapted in the training. Although we found no significant correlation between competitive trait anxiety, and sleep disturbance on injury susceptibility, longitudinal studies are required to assess the effect of life stress, anxiety, and sleep disturbance on injury susceptibility.