Athletic injury has been prevalent in sports for decades, among both recreational and competitive athletes. For instance, in college athletes, there was an injury rate of 14 and 4 respectively for the male and female athletes out of every 1000 in competitions and practices (Hootman, Dick and Agel, 2007). Injury rates tend to be especially high in contact sports like football, as well as in non-contact sports like volleyball and soccer. Injuries however do not tend to be too chronic or long-term in such sports (Hootman et al., 2007). Some researchers suggest that individual factors (like age, fitness levels and any previous injuries) as well as environmental factors (the playing conditions, sports equipment and the type of sports) both play a role in ultimately causing injury (Van Mechelen, Hlobil, and Kemper, 1992). Even if these factors are at in support for the athlete, reportedly there have still been higher rates of injury (Petrie, Deiters, and Harmison, 2014). Therefore, researchers have turned their attention to the stress an individual may be undergoing that could potentially affect sports performance. Stress may be defined as the types of major events experienced by a person that may induce both positive and negative emotions (Petrie, Deiters, and Harmison, 2014). Both positively and negatively rated life events can affect athletic performance and cause injury (e.g., Smith, Smoll and Ptacek, 1990; Blackwell and McCullagh, 1990).

1.1.Literature review

A systematic literature review was conducted via electronic databases, including Taylor and Francis, Elsevier, and Google Scholar using key words “sports injury”, “life stressors”, “mental toughness”, and “social support”. Fifteen studies investigating relationship between stressful life events and injury for college-level competitive athletes were identified, that used a survey questionnaire design for their studies. Eight of them included either social support (n=5) or mental toughness (n=3) as mediating variables. Anderson and Williams (1988, 1999) for example developed a multi-factor framework to help capture the reality of injury by including various psychosocial factors and their related mechanisms that affect injury risks in sports. To develop this line of investigation, scholars have come up with at least three sets of factors that affect the stress response of athletes while they are engaged in the field. These are: the history of stressful events (both negative and positive), traits of personality (competitive trait anxiety) and resources for coping (social support network). All three categories of factors, individually and in combination are said to affect the athlete’s performance because they affect how the player will interpret the stimuli in his environment. An athlete experiencing some very stressful life event, soaring levels of trait anxiety and low social support may evaluate a sports situation with hostility and anxiety; that will ultimately cause a rise in fatigue and attentional disturbances. Previously, research has identified various factors that help cope with life stressors. One such factor is the support of social network, or simply called social support. According to Malecki and Demaray (2003), social support is the supportive behaviors or the general support that an individual perceives is being stemmed by people they know and helps them withstand adversity. In a comparative study of college female gymnasts, those who had high life stress and low social support encountered more injuries than their counterparts with higher life stress and high social support. Another construct that has increasingly received attention of researchers of sports is called mental toughness(Gucciardi and Gordon, 2011). Some researchers have even cast their doubts over the validity of such a construct but it continues to garner attention (Andersen, 2011). According to Coulter, Mallet andGucciardi, (2010) mental toughness is defined as the collection of imbibed attitudes, values, emotions, cognitions and behaviors that affect how athletes will evaluate and mitigate negative and positive stimulating situations to reach their goals. Mental toughness is driven by a collection of dispositional traits and cognitive abilities (Harmison, 2011). Athletes that have such dispositions and affectives are better able to cope with the demands that challenging sports puts them through. This personality variable helps athletes channel negative thoughts to use for better performance, gives them endurance in times of breaking down and pushes them towards their goals.

1.2.Research question:

The proposed research question is: how do life stressors affect athletic injury when moderated by mental toughness and social support? Sub questions are: how does mental toughness moderate the relationship between life stressors and injury, and how