Parenting an Adolescent: The Case of the Avoidant Highly Sensitive Mother.

Team sports contribute positively to young people’s mental health by providing opportunities to: develop positive social relationships; join a community of support; and achieve a sense of higher purpose []. However, the darker side to youths’ team sports participation is increased injury risk, particularly for sports-related concussion (SRC) that produces known physical, mental, and psychological impairment. In the U.S., more than 1 million (1.1–1.9 M) sports- and recreation-related concussions happen to youth aged 18 and under in the U.S. [], with annual prevalence rates range from 6.5 to 18.3% of 13 to 17 year olds [], and 1 in 5 adolescent athletes in competitive sports reporting SRC annually []. Increases in SRC prevalence reports among young athletes over the past several decades are due to heightened awareness of problematic outcomes []. Sports injuries are a primary cause of concussions among adolescents []. Male-dominated competitive U.S. sports such as North American football, with an injury rate of 1.04 per 1000 athlete exposures [], present the highest risk for concussion [, , , ]. SRCs are more likely to occur in competition than practice and are associated with certain sport-specific plays (e.g., football tackles as the most frequent cause) []. Medical professionals surmise higher SRC rates for females in basketball and soccer may be attributed to sex differences in head size and neck muscle strength []. And, although there were fewer reported traumatic brain injuries among adolescents playing school sports during COVID-19, other pandemic-related school policies (e.g., screen-based learning) were deemed disruptive for the healing process of young traumatic brain-injured athletes []. As negative physical health effects of SRC remain of special concern in sports medicine, psychological correlates of SRC have received recent attention []. Less is known about linkages between youths’ SRC and psychological outcomes, such as suicidal intentions [] and self-harm, also known as non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). The psychological aftermath of SRC, such as mood changes, anxiety, and depression, was mistakenly attributed to youth being removed from sports participation, the arduousness of physical recovery and rehabilitation, and uncertainty with transitioning back to play []. A study of collegiate athletes found distinctively different psychological outcomes with SRC versus musculoskeletal injuries; those with SRC reported greater fatigue and negative mood post-injury than athletes with bodily injury, who experienced more anger []. Moreover, medical professionals support that concussion aftermath for adolescents includes mental health, cognitive, and somatic effects []. SRC and internalizing problem associations (depression, suicidal thoughts, and attempts) among state- and national-level representative samples of high schoolers were supported in recent studies [, , ]. Due to the cross-sectional design of these studies, we know SRC with internalizing problems associations are significant, yet cannot estimate causality with SRC experience as a precedent for developing internalizing problems. On the flip side, Stewart et al. [] found that concussions more commonly occur among youth with mental health and processing disorders.