Psychosocial factors and ballet injuries

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether psychosocial factors, such as stress, anxiety, social support, and coping skills, could predict injuries (frequency and duration) among 105 ballet dancers (101 females; 4 males). The dancers were professional ballet dancers (n = 27), university ballet students (n = 19), and ballet institute students (n = 59), with a mean age of 20.46 years (SD = 5.50). They completed a modified version of the Adolescent Perceived Event Scale (APES) and Sport Experiences Survey (SES), which address life and dance stress respectively, the Sport Anxiety Scale (SAS), the Athletic Coping Skills Inventory‐28 (ACSI‐28), and a social support for dance measure. Injuries were recorded (frequency and duration of injuries) for the 10‐month period following completion of the surveys. From the correlation matrix of psychosocial scales and injury, we selected for regression analysis, variables that showed at least moderate correlations with the frequency and duration of injury (i.e., peaking under pressure, goal setting/mental preparation, freedom from worry, confidence, negative dance stress, negative life stress). One regression analysis identified freedom from worry and confidence as significant predictors for frequency of injury. A second regression analysis identified freedom from worry and negative dance stress as significant predictors for duration of injury.