High-level military and sport leaders' everyday challenges and psychological skills: A cross-contextual repeated measures study.

Research shows that high-level military and sport leaders share a high-stress and high-stakes leader role due to similar experiences of demanding conditions mainly manifested in psychological burden. This raises research questions about leaders' psychological strategies to maintain their mental health and performance under demanding conditions. Thus, the current study investigated how experienced demanding conditions were related to self-rated leader performance level and mental health indicators among high-level military and sport leaders and whether the application of psychological skills by these leaders moderated these relationships. A composite questionnaire was used to collect data longitudinally, once a week for four consecutive weeks. Fifty-two Swedish high-ranking military officers and executives in elite team sport organizations completed the questionnaire. Multilevel analysis revealed no effect of demanding conditions on leader performance, but they harmed leader vitality and were associated with higher stress symptoms. Moreover, psychological skills did not moderate the relationship between demanding conditions and leader performance. However, motivational and instructional self-talk negatively moderated the relationship between demanding conditions and vitality. In contrast, emotional regulation, comprised of mindfulness and cognitive reappraisal, positively moderated vitality. Emphasizing the nuanced application of psychological skills is crucial while avoiding one-sided beliefs about their positive effects. Interventions are suggested to focus on vitality and related psychological skills to ensure leaders feel good while performing under demanding conditions. More cross-contextual leadership research, suggestively applied research, is needed to better understand the links between high-level military and sport leaders' psychological skills, leader performance, and mental health under demanding conditions.

Profiles of psychosocial factors: Can they be used to predict injury risk?

The creation of risk profiles using the model of stress and athletic injury (J Appl Sport Psychol. 1998;10(1):5) represents a proposed shift from the reductionism paradigm to the complex sport approach in an attempt to formulate prevention strategies to combat the increasing number of injuries being reported in sporting populations. As a result, the primary purpose of this study was to: (a) identify different risk profiles based on psychosocial factors associated with the Williams and Andersen's model of stress and athletic injury model; and (b) examine potential differences in the frequency of injuries across these risk profiles. A prospective research design was utilized with a sample of 117 competitive soccer players (81 males and 36 females) from Sweden and the United States of America. Data was collected at two time points over the course of three months. At time 1 (beginning of the season) - a demographic information sheet, the Life Event Survey for Collegiate Athletes (LESCA), Sport Competitive Anxiety Test (SCAT), and Brief Cope were administered. At time two (T2), three months after the initial data collection, participants' traumatic injuries were recorded. Latent profile analysis (LPA) showed that 3 profiles solution showed best fit to data. Players in profile 1 and 2 reported fewer injuries compared to players in profile 3. However, whereas individuals in profile 1 had a lower predictive risk of sustaining an injury when compared to those in profile 3, both profiles had similar anxiety levels and use of coping strategies with differing stress levels. These findings suggest that the interaction between different proposed risk factors might influence injury risk.

'I was young, I wanted to return to sport, and re-ruptured my ACL' - young active female patients' voices on the experience of sustaining an ACL re-rupture, a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Despite anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) re-ruptures being common, research on patient experiences after knee trauma has primarily focused on the time after primary ACL reconstruction. Integrating qualitative research and patient experiences can facilitate researchers and clinicians in understanding the burden of an ACL re-rupture. The aim of the study was to explore the experiences of an ACL re-rupture journey in young active females aiming to return to knee-strenuous sports after primary ACL reconstruction. METHOD: Fifteen young (19[range 16-23] years old) active females who suffered an ACL re-rupture were interviewed with semi-structured interviews. Qualitative content analysis using deductive approach based on Wiese-Bjornstal's 'integrated model of response to sport injury' was used. RESULTS: The results are presented in two timelines 1) from first ACL injury to ACL re-rupture, and 2) from ACL re-rupture to present day, and further stratified according to the domains of the 'integrated model of psychological response to injury'. Results in the first timeline are summarised into seven categories: Finding hope for the journey; Accepting my ACL injury; I succeeded; What matters now? Who am I?; Where will this end? What is going to happen? In the second timeline, eight categories were identified: Fighting spirit; A helping hand; Working hard; I am a new me; I am destroyed; Loneliness; Painful changes; and, I could have made it to the pro´s. CONCLUSION: Young active females who suffered an ACL re-rupture did not express any positive experience following their first ACL injury, however, in contrast, expressed positive experiences and personal growth after going through the ACL re-rupture journey, characterized by a lot of struggling, and ultimately led to the experience of becoming a new, stronger person.

Psychological impairments after ACL injury - Do we know what we are addressing? Experiences from sports physical therapists.

Psychological impairments can follow an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury and can impact the rehabilitation process. Our aim was to investigate experiences of sports physical therapists (PTs) in addressing psychological impairments in patients after ACL injury. We conducted four focus group interviews with fourteen sports PTs. The PTs' experiences of working with psychological impairments after ACL injury were summarized in four main categories: (1) "Calling for a guiding light", where PTs stated that the most common method of acquiring knowledge on addressing psychological impairments was through discussions with colleagues, and, at the same time, PTs expressed an insufficient knowledge of how to address psychological impairments; (2) "Meeting the burden of psychological impairments" where PTs stated that psychological impairments are greater than physical; (3) "Trying to balance physical and psychological aspects" where patient education and assessments were reported to be important in order to understand psychological impairments during rehabilitation; and (4) "Goal setting: a helpful challenge" where sports PTs expressed a need for specific knowledge of the rehabilitation of psychological impairments following ACL injury. To help provide the current best practice, we encourage researchers to develop psychologically centered interventions for rehabilitation after an ACL injury, and PTs to stay up-to-date with the literature published on the subject, including to implement eventual interventions.

Psychological risk profile for overuse injuries in sport: An exploratory study.

Overuse injuries account for a substantial part of sport injury incidence among athletes of various sports and levels. Despite the gradual onset of symptoms, athletes often persevere in training and competing. The present exploratory study aimed to identify a psychological risk profile for overuse injury. One hundred and forty-nine athletes competing in various sports responded to a range of questionnaires measuring the following psychological variables: negative life stress, perfectionistic concerns, perfectionistic strivings, athletic identity, and the coach-athlete relationship. Participants subsequently answered the OSTRC Overuse Injury Questionnaire on a weekly basis during a 10-week period. Using a latent profile analysis, athletes were classified into three latent profiles regarding their psychological characteristics. Athletes in the second profile, characterized by a combination of high athletic identity, perfectionistic concerns and negative life stress and poor coach-athlete relationship, were found to be significantly more often affected by overuse injuries (74% of the time) than individuals in the two other profiles (52% and 48% of the time, respectively). In conclusion, psychological factors may contribute to the risk of overuse injuries through complex interactions (i.e. accounting for interdependencies within a specific configuration of variables) rather than through their independent influences.

A psychological injury prevention group intervention in Swedish floorball.

PURPOSE: The main purpose of the study was to evaluate a psychological skills training intervention at group level aiming to prevent injuries, separated in traumatic and overuse, in male and female elite floorball players. METHODS: Twenty-three teams in the premiere leagues for males and females were volunteered, and the teams were allocated to an intervention group (n = 11, males n = 94, females n = 99) and a control group (n = 12, males n = 109, females n = 99). The teams in the intervention group participated in a psychological skills training programme consisting of six meetings with each team. The control group received no substitute. All injuries were registered and documented according to the time-loss definition and classified into either traumatic or overuse. RESULTS: In total, 142 players (35 %) out of the 401 players sustained 197 injuries, 0.49 injury/player: in the intervention group 0.45 injury/player and in the control group 0.53 injury/player. The analyses revealed no significant differences in injuries between intervention groups and control groups. The effect size of the influence of the psychological skills training in overuse injuries was considered to be small, Cohen's d 0.2. CONCLUSIONS: This study comprised the whole team for a group intervention and did not screen for at-risk athletes, e.g. scoring high in anxiety or low in coping skills, which might have influenced the result. A psychological injury prevention intervention forward to a whole team might not influence the injury occurrence significantly. Thus, this psychological intervention decreased the injury incidence which is of clinical interest. LEVEL OF INCIDENCE: Level II.

Sports injury prevention in Swedish elite floorball players: evaluation of two consecutive floorball seasons.

PURPOSE: The objective was to evaluate the effect of a psychological group-based injury prevention, which was implemented throughout the first season, after the second season, in Swedish elite floorball teams (males and females). The secondary objective was to evaluate the effect of the intervention over the two consecutive floorball seasons as a whole. METHODS: Twenty-three teams in the premier leagues for males and females volunteered and were allocated to an intervention group, n = 175 players, and a control group n = 171 players. The intervention group participated in psychological skills training during the first season. The control group did not receive any alternative treatment. Neither of the groups received any intervention during the second season. All injuries were registered and documented according to time-loss definition and classified into either traumatic or overuse injuries. RESULTS: Ninety-three players (27 %) sustained 119 injuries during the second season. The intervention group 0.31 (95 % CI 0.22-0.39) and the control group 0.41 (95 % CI 0.29-0.53) injuries/player. The injury incidence decreased in the intervention group and was lower than the control group. The analysis showed no statistical differences when comparing the intervention group and the control group neither after the second season nor after the two seasons together, Cohen's d 0.2. CONCLUSION: This group-based training showed a small effect size after the second year resulting in fewer injuries, especially severe injuries, in the intervention group compared to the control group. It is, therefore, important not to overlook the potential of a group-based psychological injury prevention programme.

Bayesian structural equation modeling in sport and exercise psychology.

Bayesian statistics is on the rise in mainstream psychology, but applications in sport and exercise psychology research are scarce. In this article, the foundations of Bayesian analysis are introduced, and we will illustrate how to apply Bayesian structural equation modeling in a sport and exercise psychology setting. More specifically, we contrasted a confirmatory factor analysis on the Sport Motivation Scale II estimated with the most commonly used estimator, maximum likelihood, and a Bayesian approach with weakly informative priors for cross-loadings and correlated residuals. The results indicated that the model with Bayesian estimation and weakly informative priors provided a good fit to the data, whereas the model estimated with a maximum likelihood estimator did not produce a well-fitting model. The reasons for this discrepancy between maximum likelihood and Bayesian estimation are discussed as well as potential advantages and caveats with the Bayesian approach.

Things we still haven't learned (so far).

Null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) is like an immortal horse that some researchers have been trying to beat to death for over 50 years but without any success. In this article we discuss the flaws in NHST, the historical background in relation to both Fisher's and Neyman and Pearson's statistical ideas, the common misunderstandings of what p < .05 actually means, and the 2010 APA publication manual's clear, but most often ignored, instructions to report effect sizes and to interpret what they all mean in the real world. In addition, we discuss how Bayesian statistics can be used to overcome some of the problems with NHST. We then analyze quantitative articles published over the past three years (2012-2014) in two top-rated sport and exercise psychology journals to determine whether we have learned what we should have learned decades ago about our use and meaningful interpretations of statistics.

50 Years of Research on the Psychology of Sport Injury: A Consensus Statement.

Factors influencing sport injury risk, rehabilitation outcomes, and return to sport processes have been the focus in various research disciplines (sports medicine, psychology and sociology). One discipline, with over 50 years of scholarship, is the psychology of sport injury. Despite the research in this field, there is no evidence-based consensus to inform professional practice. The aim of this original and timely consensus statement is to summarise psychological sport injury research and provide consensus recommendations for sport practitioners seeking to implement psychological principles into clinical practice. A total of seven experts with extensive experience outlined the consensus objectives and identified three psychology of sport injury sub-domains: risk, rehabilitation and return to sport. The researchers, grouped in pairs, prepared initial drafts of assigned sub-domains. The group met in Stockholm, and the three texts were merged into a draft and revised in an iterative process. Stress responses are the strongest psychological risk factor for acute injuries. Intra- and interpersonal factors, as well as sociocultural factors, are demonstrated psychosocial risk factors for overuse injuries. Stress management and mindfulness interventions to prevent injuries have been successfully implemented. The rehabilitation process may influence athlete's cognitive, emotional, and behavioural responses. Social support, mindfulness, acceptance-based practices, and cognitive-behavioural based intervention programs reduce negative reactions. Return to sport includes various stages and different trajectories. Returning athletes typically experience concerns regarding competence, autonomy, and relatedness. It is recommended that athletes focus on the physical, technical, and psychological demands of their sport as they progress to increasingly intense activities. Interdisciplinary collaboration (e.g., sports medicine and psychology) would be beneficial in enhancing clinical practice and improving athlete outcomes.

Psychological predictors of injury occurrence: a prospective investigation of professional Swedish soccer players.

CONTEXT: Athletes participating in sport are exposed to a high injury risk. Previous research has found a great number of risk factors (both physiological and psychological) that could increase injury risk. One limitation in previous studies is that few have considered the complex interaction between psychological factors in their research design. OBJECTIVE: To study whether personality, stress, and coping predicted injury occurrence in an elite soccer population based on a hypothesized model. DESIGN: Prospective. PARTICIPANTS: 56 (n = 38 male, n = 18 female) Swedish Premiere League soccer players were selected based on convenience sampling. INTERVENTION: Participants completed 4 questionnaires including the Swedish Universities Scales of Personality, Life Events Survey for Collegiate Athletes, and Brief COPE during the initial questionnaire administration. Subsequent to the first meeting, participants also completed the Hassle and Uplift Scale5 once per wk for a 13-wk period throughout the competitive season. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: A path analysis was conducted examining the influence of personality traits (ie, trait anxiety), state-level stressors (ie, negative-life-event stress and daily hassles), and coping on injury frequency. RESULTS: Results of the path analysis indicated that trait anxiety, negative-life-event stress, and daily hassle were significant predictors of injury among professional soccer players, accounting for 24% of the variance. CONCLUSION: The findings highlight the need for athletes, coaches, and medical practitioners to attempt to reduce state-level stressors, especially daily hassles, in minimizing injury risk. Educating and training athletes and coaches in proactive stress-management techniques appears warranted.

Is a cognitive-behavioural biofeedback intervention useful to reduce injury risk in junior football players?

Athletes participating in sport are exposed to a relatively high injury risk. Previous research has suggested that it could be possible to reduce sports injuries through psychological skills training. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which a cognitive behavioural biofeedback intervention could reduce the number of sports injuries in a sample of players in Swedish elite football high schools. Participants from four elite football high schools (16-19 years old) were divided into one experiment (n = 13) and one control group (n = 14). Participants were asked to complete three questionnaires to assess anxiety level (Sport Anxiety Scale), history of stressors (Life Event Scale for Collegiate Athletes) and coping skills (Athletic Coping Skills Inventory - 28) in a baseline measure. Mann-Whitney U-tests showed no significant differences in pre-intervention scores based on the questionnaires. The experimental group participated in a nine-week intervention period consisting of seven sessions, including: somatic relaxation, thought stopping, emotions/problem focused coping, goal setting, biofeedback training as well as keeping a critical incident diary. A Mann-Whitney U test showed no significant difference between the control and experimental group U (n1 = 13, n2 = 14) = 51.00, p = 0.054. However, considering the small sample, the statistical power (0.05 for present study), to detect effects was low. The results of the study are discussed from a psychological perspective and proposals for future research are given. Key pointsCognitive-behavioral training together with biofeedback training seems to be an effective strategy to decrease the occurrence of injuries.More intervention studies should be conducted applying existing biofeedback methodology, especially in the injury preventive area.Future research should develop a bio-psychological injury model aimed at predicting injury occurrence which describes the physiological stress responses and how they can be measured in more detail.

Favorable Adaptation during SARS-CoV-2-Pandemic as Told by Student-Athletes-A Longitudinal and Behavioral Study.

(1) Background: The aim was to explore the impact of adaptive responses (resilience factors) on student-athletes' behaviors during a stressful period of life during the SARS-CoV-2-pandemic of 2020 and 2021. (2) Methods: A constructivist-based grounded theory (CGT) was used guided by a biopsychosocial approach. Based on purposeful sampling, 22 male and female student-athletes were divided into four focus group interviews (FGI) seven months after the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2-pandemic (October 2020) and 18 of these were followed up by FGI seven months later (May 2021). The mean age was 17.65 and they represented golf and handball. (3) Results: The CGT contained four main categories seven months after the SARS-CoV-2-pandemic outbreak: Social support, Self-discipline, Physical practice and recovery and Management of everyday life. Fourteen months after the SARS-CoV-2-pandemic outbreak, four additional main categories emerged: More extensive social support, Belief in the future, Self-awareness and Responsibility and problem-solving. (4) Conclusions: The CTG suggests that student-athletes' favorable adaptations to the stressful SARS-CoV-2-pandemic period 2020-2021 are based on a gradually developed ability to take responsibility for one's own actions, insight into the importance of deepened social interaction, belief in a positive post-COVID future and increased awareness of physical activity and its relation to perceived health.

Exploring psychosocial risk factors for dropout in adolescent female soccer.

OBJECTIVES: We examined the manner in which age, participation in other sports, socioeconomic status, perceived sport competence, achievement goal orientations, and perceived motivational climate may interact to predict the risk of dropout among adolescent female soccer players. METHODS: Self-reported data from 519 female soccer players between 10 and 19 years of age (M = 13.41, SD = 1.77) were analysed using a person-centred approach to uncover the interactions among risk factors and their relative predictability of dropout. RESULTS: Perceived motivational climate was identified as the main predictor, where relatively lower levels of mastery climate were associated with a higher dropout tendency (absolute risk reduction [ARR] = 12.2% ±6.1% [95% CL]). If combined with relatively lower levels of mastery climate, then relatively lower levels of perceived sport competence were related to higher dropout risks (ARR = 16.5% ±9.5%), whereas, in combination with relatively higher levels of mastery climate, then relatively lower levels of ego-orientated achievement goals were associated with higher dropout rates (ARR = 10.8% ±12.6%). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings afford novel insights into the interactions between, and the relative importance of, various risk factors for dropout in adolescent female soccer. This knowledge may be useful for soccer associations, clubs, and coaches when developing guidelines and strategies that aim to foster young females' sustained participation in organised soccer.

Study protocol for a prospective cohort study identifying risk factors for sport injury in adolescent female football players: the Karolinska football Injury Cohort (KIC).

INTRODUCTION: Football is a popular sport among young females worldwide, but studies concerning injuries in female players are scarce compared with male players. The aim of this study is to identify risk factors for injury in adolescent female football players. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The Karolinska football Injury Cohort (KIC) is an ongoing longitudinal study that will include approximately 400 female football academy players 12-19 years old in Sweden. A detailed questionnaire regarding demographics, health status, lifestyle, stress, socioeconomic factors, psychosocial factors and various football-related factors are completed at baseline and after 1 year. Clinical tests measuring strength, mobility, neuromuscular control of the lower extremity, trunk and neck are carried out at baseline. Players are followed prospectively with weekly emails regarding exposure to football and other physical activity, health issues (such as stress, recovery, etc), pain, performance and injuries via the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center Overuse Injury Questionnaire (OSTRC-O). Players who report a substantial injury in the OSTRC-O, that is, not being able to participate in football activities, or have reduced their training volume performance to a moderate or major degree, are contacted for full injury documentation. In addition to player data, academy coaches also complete a baseline questionnaire regarding coach experience and education. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study was approved by the Regional Ethical Review Authority at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (2016/1251-31/4). All participating players and their legal guardians give their written informed consent. The study will be reported in accordance with the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology. The results will be published in peer-reviewed academic journals and disseminated to the Swedish football movement through stakeholders and media.

Psychosocial Predictors of Drop-Out from Organised Sport: A Prospective Study in Adolescent Soccer.

In recent years an increased drop-out rate in adolescents' soccer participation has been observed. Given the potentially adverse consequences of drop-out from soccer, more information about risk factors for drop-out is warranted. In the current study, Classification and Regression Tree (CRT) analysis was used to investigate demographic and motivational factors associated with an increased risk of drop-out from adolescent soccer. The results of this study indicate that older age, experiencing less autonomy support from the coach, less intrinsic motivation, being female, and lower socioeconomic status are factors associated with an increased risk of drop-out. An interpretation of the results of this study is that coaches play a central part in creating a sports context that facilitates motivation and continued soccer participation. Based on the findings of the current study we propose that soccer clubs implement theoretically informed coach education programs to help coaches adopt autonomy-supportive coaching strategies.

Cocreating injury prevention training for youth team handball: bridging theory and practice.

Although it is advocated that end-users are engaged in developing evidence-based injury prevention training to enhance the implementation, this rarely happens. The 'Implementing injury Prevention training ROutines in TEams and Clubs in youth Team handball (I-PROTECT)' uses an ecological participatory design incorporating the perspectives of multiple stakeholders throughout the project. Within the I-PROTECT project, the current study aimed to describe the development of holistic injury prevention training specifically for youth handball players through using knowledge from both end-users (coaches and players) and researchers/handball experts. Employing action evaluation within participatory action research, the cyclical development process included three phases: research team preparation, handball expert-based preparation and end-user evaluation to develop injury prevention training incorporating both physical and psychological perspectives. To grow the knowledge of the interdisciplinary research team, rethinking was conducted within and between phases based on participants' contributions. Researchers and end-users cocreated examples of handball-specific exercises, including injury prevention physical principles (movement technique for upper and lower extremities, respectively, and muscle strength) combined with psychological aspects (increase end-user motivation, task focus and body awareness) to integrate into warm-up and skills training within handball practice. A cyclical development process that engaged researchers/handball experts and end-users to cocreate evidence-based, theory-informed and context-specific injury prevention training specifically for youth handball players generated a first pilot version of exercises including physical principles combined with psychological aspects to be integrated within handball practice.

Is Perceived Autonomy Support Provided by a Coach Related to the Intention of Injury Preventative Behavior Among National and International Level Golfers?

The successful implementation of injury prevention programs is reliant on athletes and coaches accepting, adopting, and complying with behaviors that reduce injury risk. Exploring factors, such as motivation and planned behavior, that might increase the frequency of these behaviors warrants investigation. The aim of the study was to investigate the complex interaction between perceived autonomy support, self-determined motivation, planned behavior, and how this relates to golfers self-reported intention injury preventative behavior. A total of 60 golfers completed questions on psychological measures of perceived autonomy support from coaches, autonomous motivation, and intentions of injury preventative behavior. A neural network model analysis was performed to investigate the strength of connection between covariates and construct a network structure. Analysis of results was performed by assessing edge strengths and node centrality to guide inference of the network topology. The most central node was autonomous regulation and the results showed one cluster comprising positive interactions between perceived autonomy support, effort of injury preventative behavior, and frequency of injury preventative behavior. When aiming to encourage injury preventative behavior, coaches should consider giving feedback that supports autonomous motivation since it is positively associated with effort and frequency of injury preventative behavior among high-level golfers. Injury prevention programs should include strategies to improve the athlete's autonomous motivation to carry out preventive activities.

The Role of the Results of Functional Tests and Psychological Factors on Prediction of Injuries in Adolescent Female Football Players.

Football is a popular sport among adolescent females. Given the rate of injuries in female footballers, identifying factors that can predict injuries are important. These injuries are often caused by complex reasons. The aim of this study was to investigate if the combination of demographic (age, number of training and match play hours/week), psychosocial (perceived stress, adaptive coping strategies) and physiological factors (functional performance) can predict a traumatic injury in adolescent female footballers. A cohort consisting of 419 female football players aged 13-16 years was established. Baseline questionnaires covered potential risk factors for sport injuries, and measurements included football-related functional performance tests. Data were collected prospectively with a weekly online questionnaire for 52 weeks covering, e.g., injuries, training, and match play hours/week. A total of 62% of the players reported at least one traumatic injury during the 52 weeks. The coping strategy "positive reframing" had the strongest association with the risk of traumatic injuries. The combination of more frequent use of the coping strategy, positive reframing, and high levels of physical performance capacity may prevent a traumatic injury in adolescent female footballers. Coaches are encouraged to adopt both physiological and psychological factors when preventing injuries in young female footballers.

Psychological factors as predictors of injuries among senior soccer players. A prospective study.

It is reported that between 65-91% of elite soccer players in Sweden have at least one injury per year. Several studies define different physiological and psychological factors affecting athletic injury-risk. A number of models contain proposals that specify relationships between psychological factors and an increased athletic injury-risk. Examples include Williams and Andersen's stress-injury model and Johnson and Ivarsson's empirical model of injury risk factors which proposes that factors such as trait anxiety and ineffective coping skills are influential. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between (a) personality factors, b) coping variables, and (c) stress and injury risk. Participants were 48 male soccer players from 3 Swedish teams ranging in age from 16 to 36 years (M = 22 years). Participants completed 5 questionnaires: Football Worry Scale, Swedish universities Scales of Personality, Life Events Survey for Collegiate Athletes, Daily Hassle Scale and Brief COPE. Information on injuries was collected by athletic trainers of the teams over 3-months. Results suggest injury was significantly predicted by 4 personality trait predictors: somatic trait anxiety, psychic trait anxiety, stress susceptibility, and trait irritability. Collectively, the predictors self-blame and acceptance could explain 14.6% of injury occurrence. More injuries were reported among players who score high in daily hassles. These results support previous findings. Recommendations are given for both the athletes and the trainers on working to prevent sport injuries. Key pointsA number of psychological factors, such as high stress levels and ineffective coping could increase the injury risk among athletes.The two coping factors, self - blame and acceptance could together explain 14.6 % of injury occurrence.Results of the current study suggest that the factors; somatic trait anxiety, psychic trait anxiety, stress susceptibility and trait irritability could increase injury risk among soccer players.Suggestion for future research is to investigate how daily hassles affects injury risk among soccer players in larger samples and on premiership levels. Moreover, to investigate the effects of a preventive intervention designs for a representative sample of soccer players.