Relationship between Adaptation after Returning to Competition and Psycho-behavioral Attitudes during Injury Rehabilitation

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between adaptation after returning to competition and psychological and behavioral variables during the rehabilitation period. [Subjects] Athletes (N =113) that had experienced an injury (mean age = 20.22 years, SD = 1.07; mean weeks after stopping sports = 7.98 weeks, SD = 11.74) participated in this study. [Methods] The subjects were asked to respond to the athletic injury version of the Temporal Perspective Scale (TP-S), existing scales including the DDF-S, AIPA-S, and ARD-S, and the outcome indices for rehabilitation. [Results] The results of a cluster analysis indicated three modalities of temporal perspective (i.e., positive, neutral, and negative sequences). The results of an analysis of variance showed that the positive chain modality was adaptive for future dominance. The subjects in this group demonstrated higher levels of acceptance of injuries during the rehabilitation period than the other groups, devotion to rehabilitation, and awareness of the recovery in competitive performance and a feeling of personal growth. [Conclusion] The level of acceptance of injury during the rehabilitation period, as well as the devotion to rehabilitation, influenced adaptation after returning to competition.