The Effect of Psychological Stress on the Occurrence of Sports Injuries among Young Football Players

Abstract

    The research aims to determine the effect of psychological stress on the occurrence of sports injuries among young football players for the sports season (2024-2025). The research sample consisted of (98) players from sports clubs of private and public governmental institutions in Dhi Qar city. The researcher used the descriptive approach with survey design to suit the nature of this research, and the research sample was chosen intentionally. The psychological stress scale for juniors’ athletes was used to measure six psychological dimensions: (fear of competition; fear of injury; personal problems; family problems; relationship with the coach; relationship with colleagues), and their relationship to the occurrence of sports injuries (fracture; tear; sprain; dislocation; bruise). The results of the study showed that there were no statistically significant differences in the dimensions of (personal problems; family problems). While the results of the study in other dimensions showed that there were statistically significant differences in (fear of competition; fear of injury; relationship with the coach; relationship with colleagues). This means that there is a close relationship between psychological pressures and the occurrence of sports injuries among young football players.