In this study, we examined the moderating effects of social support, athletic identity, and mental toughness on the life stress–injury relationships in a sample of 92 NCAA Division I-A football players from an intact team. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that there were no significant main effects of positive or negative life stress, social support, athletic identity, and mental toughness on injury outcome. However, significant interaction effects with positive life stress were found for family social support and mental toughness. These findings suggest that athletes who have low levels of mental toughness and family social support miss more practice and competition days owing to injury when they experience high levels of positive life stress. The results are consistent with the Williams and Andersen (1998) injury model, but extend it by demonstrating that mental toughness is a moderator of the relationship between positive life stress and injury outcome.

The purpose of this study was to assess whether athletes who perceived their scores on trait anxiety to be debilitative to performance also experienced higher burnout scores. 84 NCAA Division I female ice hockey and soccer athletes, ages 18 to 23 years, volunteered. Participants were given a trait version of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 with an added direction scale to collect general perceptions of anxiety. They also completed the Burnout Inventory for Athletes. A one-way multivariate analysis of variance for group anxiety yielded an overall significant effect, with the Facilitative group (n = 40) reporting a lower mean burnout score. Mean intensity of cognitive anxiety was significantly higher for the Debilitative group (n = 44), while mean self-confidence intensity was significantly higher for the Facilitative group.