Critical thinking questions
Are you satisfied that gender differences are the only possible explanation for these
findings? If not, what other variables (e.g., the gender of the coach, the nature of the
sport) might have affected the results of this study? Given the reliance of this study on
retrospective recall by the athletes interviewed, what potential biases; could have affected
the findings? Also, Granito (2002) acknowledged that the time between injury onset and
athletes’ interviews was not standardised, How could this factor have affected the results?
How could you test the theory that coaches communicate differently with male and
female athletes after these performers have incurred injuries?
Figure 9.2 Diagram of cognitive
appraisal model of injury reaction
At the heart of Figure 9.2 is the assumption that injury is a form of stress for athletes.
How valid is this assumption? Intuitively, it could be argued that a vulnerability to stress
may render athletes susceptible to injury because muscle tension increases the possibility
of sprains and other musculoskeletal damage (Gould, Petlichkoff, Prentice and Tedeschi,
Helping athletes to cope with injury: from theory to practice 257