ATHLETIC IDENTITY AND HYPERCOMPETITIVENESS: IMPACT ON ATHLETES' ATTITUDES TOWARD PAIN AND SPORT-RELATED INJURY

The sporting world often praises and recognizes athletes who display a "fight-through-the-pain" mentality, putting the team and/or individual accolades before their own physical health or risk of further injury. However, some athletes' excessive drive to compete and win may potentially put them at higher risk for harm, both physically and psychologically, depending on their response to pain and injury. This study explored the impact of overly competitive attitudes on an athlete's ability to cope with pain and injury in sport. Specifically, responses on a pain coping attitudes inventory were examined in relation to measures of athletic identity and hypercompetitiveness for a sample of 114 intercollegiate athletes at a midwestern NCAA Division I school. Results were compared across gender and sport-orientation (team vs. individual) using 2-tailed analyses of variance and hierarchical multiple regression modeling. Findings from this study suggest that hypercompetitive attitudes are a stronger predictor than athletic identity of determining how an athlete will respond to injury. Results also indicate that individual- and team-oriented athletes display similar athletic identity, hypercompetitive attitudes, and pain coping ability. Furthermore, males in this sample demonstrated higher overall pain coping responses than females, regardless of sport orientation