Compete or rest? Willingness to compete hurt among adolescent elite athletes

Objective Training and competing despite underlying health problems is a common social practice in sport. Adolescent elite athletes are particularly vulnerable to possible health consequences of this risky behavior due to their very sensitive developmental stage. Conceptualizing this phenomenon of playing hurt as sickness presenteeism, and taking the concept of absence/presence legitimacy into account, this paper analyzes the propensity of adolescent elite athletes to compete in the face of health problems. The central aim is to empirically identify characteristics of elite sport subcultures which affect athletes’ willingness to compete hurt (WCH). Materials & methods Based on a comprehensive sample of 1138 German elite adolescent athletes from all Olympic sports (14–18 years), the paper applies classification tree analysis to analyze the social and individual determinants of the WCH. Results Determinants on three hierarchical levels were identified, including type of sport, perceptions of social pressure, coach's leadership style and athletes' age. The group with the highest WCH were athletes from technical sports who have a coach with an autocratic leadership style. Second was athletes from ball games, and those in aesthetic and weight-dependent sports, aged between 17 and 18 years old. The lowest mean WCH-score, by some distance, occurred amongst the group of endurance and power sports athletes who experienced no direct social pressure to play hurt. Conclusions The findings enhance our understanding of absence/presence legitimacy in highly competitive social contexts and contribute to the development of more effective target-group-specific health prevention programs for young athletes

Classification Tree Analysis: Description of Dependent and Independent Variables.

<p>Classification Tree Analysis: Description of Dependent and Independent Variables.</p

Sociodemographic Data and Descriptive Statistics for Health Related Variables (N = 698).

<p>Sociodemographic Data and Descriptive Statistics for Health Related Variables (N = 698).</p

Sense of Coherence in Comparison to Population Representative Norm Values.

1<p>This study's sample of athletes has an average age of 22.85. 88.1% of the athletes surveyed are aged between 17 and 40. In the German general population sample SOC-L9 (cf. Hannöver et al. 2004), only gender-specific values exist for the age group 17–40.</p><p>*Significant at <i>p</i><0.05. One-sample t-test calculated for both genders and for both general population samples. Confidence interval 95%.</p

Classification Tree Analyses: Gains Chart.

<p>Classification Tree Analyses: Gains Chart.</p

Classification Tree of Predictors Associated with SOC.

<p>Classification Tree of Predictors Associated with SOC.</p

Data_Sheet_1_Occupational resource profiles for an addressee orientation in occupational health management: a segmentation analysis.docx

IntroductionIn order to make sustainable decisions in precision prevention and health promotion, it is important to adequately assess people's demands and resources at work. To reach them in an addressee-oriented way, a segmentation of employers and employees based on occupational resources is a promising option. We identified profiles based on personal and perceived organizational resources. Furthermore, we used job demands for profile descriptions to obtain a deeper understanding of the profiles, characterizing people with similar occupational resources.MethodsPersonal occupational resources (occupational health literacy and self-efficacy) and perceived organizational resources (job decision latitude and participation in health at work) were assessed among employers and employees (n = 828) in small- and medium-sized enterprises in Germany. Job demands, socioeconomic status, and hierarchy levels in the company were used for further profile descriptions.ResultsA six-profile solution fitted best to the data based on cluster and profile analyses. One profile was characterized by above-average occupational resources, and another profile was characterized by below-average resources. The other four profiles showed that the individual and perceived organizational resources contrasted. Either organizational resources such as job decision latitude existed and personal resources were not highly developed or people had high individual motivation but few possibilities to participate in health at work. People with medium or high job demands as well as people with low socioeconomic status were most frequently in below-average resource profiles. Employers with high hierarchy levels were overrepresented in the above-average profiles with high organizational resources.DiscussionFollowing the segmentation of the addressees, organizations might be supported in identifying needs and areas for prevention and health promotion. Interventions can be optimally developed, tailored, and coordinated through a deeper understanding of job demands and resources. Especially employees with low socioeconomic status and high job demands might profit from an addressee-orientated approach based on resource profiles. For example, employees obtain an overview of their occupational resource profile to recognize the development potential for safe and healthy behavior at work. Follow-up research should be used to examine how this feedback to employers and employees is implemented and how it affects the sustainability of tailored interventions.</p

Additional file 2 of Why are some groups physically active and others not? A contrast group analysis in leisure settings

Readme-File for Observation Data. (DOCX 18 kb