Participation in sport is associated with several positive outcomes including improved physical fitness and mental wellbeing. Irrespective of these benefits, sport participation imparts an inherent risk for injury upon all athletes. Although defined as a mild traumatic brain injury, concussions are a cause for concern in sport considering the myriad of symptoms associated with the injury (e.g., cognitive, emotional, physical, and sleep-related) and the negative repercussions they can have on an individual’s psychosocial functioning. In the case of a suspected concussion, an athlete is expected to remove themselves from play. However, evidence suggests that for various reasons many athletes choose not to do so. To date, little research has examined the role of athletic identity and how this construct is related to how athletes think, feel and act in the context of a sport-related injury. This thesis is comprised of one scoping review and two original research studies that seek to better understand the relationship athletic identity has with respect to athlete cognitions, emotions, and behaviours following a sport-related injury. The first manuscript provides a comprehensive summary of known demographic, behavioural, psychosocial, functional, and pain-related correlates associated athletic identity following sport injury. The second study assesses healthy young athletes’ cognitive coping appraisals in response to a hypothetical concussion, and how these appraisals relate to both their return-to-play behavioural intentions and athletic identity. The third study assesses concussion knowledge accuracy among healthy young athletes and how their knowledge relates to concussion reporting behaviours, return-to-play behavioural intentions (in the context of a hypothetical concussion) and athletic identity. Research pertaining to athletic identity as a predictor of sport injury outcomes is still in its infancy. Therefore, the primary goal of this thesis is to determine if athletic identity is harmful or helpful to an athlete’s recovery following an actual or hypothetical injury. Findings from this program of research can be useful for guiding subsequent hypothesis generation, can serve as the impetus for future behavioural interventions, and may inform clinical practice(s). Most importantly, findings are useful for informing our understanding of athletes’ psychosocial response to concussion.Ph.D
