Confidence restoration following athletic injury¹

The impact of goal orientations, perceptions of social support, and sources of rehabilitation confidence on the process of confidence restoration from athletic injury was examined among 40 injured intercollegiate athletes (ages 18 to 22 years). Athletes completed the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire (TEOSQ; Duda & Nicholls, 1992), the Social Support Questionnaire (SSQ; Duda, Smart, & Tappe, 1989), and modified versions of the Sources of Sport Confidence Questionnaire (M-SSCQ; Vealey, Hayashi, Garner-Holman, & Giacobbi, 1998) and the State Sport Confidence Inventory (M-SSCI; Vealey, 1986) within the first two days of their rehabilitation program. The SSQ, M-SSCQ, and M-SSCI were completed during the midpoint of the rehabilitation and the day before returning to practice/competition. Results indicated that the tendency to emphasize task-involved goals in sport significantly predicted the selection of mastery and more self-referenced sources of confidence in rehabilitation. Athletes who perceived more social support specific to injury rehabilitation at the beginning of the rehabilitation program were more likely to rely on performance sources to build confidence.