Subjective well-being is associated with injury risk in adolescent elite athletes

Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the association of subjective well-being with injury and injury severity in adolescent elite athletes. Design: Prospective cohort study. Participants: Three hundred eighty-six adolescent elite athletes (age range 15-19), participating in seven different sports, were monitored repeatedly over 52 weeks using a valid questionnaire about injuries, substantial injuries, injury severity and subjective well-being (scale 0-100). Results: A linear mixed model showed that subjective well-being was significantly influenced by injury severity (p < .001, estimate -1.7, 95% CI -1.4 to -2.0) and sex (p = .019, estimate -3.6, 95% CI -6.0 to -0.2). Of all injury reports where the athletes reported a well-being score of less than or equal to 20, 54% reported substantial injury, whereas 9% of the injury reports where the athletes reported a well-being score above 80 reported substantial injuries. In addition, an increase in subjective well-being with a score of 10 decreased the odds of injury with 5.6% (p = .036, 95% CI 89.5 to 99.6) and injury severity with 0.4 points (p = .01, 95% CI -0.6 to -0.1). Conclusion: Medical personnel need to be aware that young athletes may face well-being challenges while injured and that a low subjective well-being increase the injury risk the subsequent week.