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Intentions to report concussion symptoms in nonprofessional athletes: A fuzzy‐trace theory approach
Author(s) -
Garavito David M. N.,
Reyna Valerie F.,
DeTello Joseph E.,
Landow Bailey R.,
Tarpinian Lindsey M.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
applied cognitive psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.719
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1099-0720
pISSN - 0888-4080
DOI - 10.1002/acp.3734
Subject(s) - psychology , gist , categorical variable , athletes , concussion , variance (accounting) , developmental psychology , human factors and ergonomics , trace (psycholinguistics) , injury prevention , clinical psychology , poison control , physical therapy , medicine , environmental health , statistics , pathology , linguistics , philosophy , mathematics , accounting , stromal cell , business
Summary Reducing concussion risks in athletes depends on self‐reporting. Often, athletes decide whether to report concussions or continue playing and risk serious health consequences. Fuzzy‐trace theory (FTT) predicts that reliance on gisty, categorical representations of risky decisions, not amounts of risk/reward, encourages risk avoidance and application of bottom‐line values, or gist principles, thus promoting healthy decisions. Applying FTT, we test whether intentions to report are predicted by gist‐based thinking about risks and values. High school and college students ( N = 1,366) were assessed for concussion knowledge, social pressures to not report (by coaches/parents/teammates), categorical gist‐based thinking, endorsement of gist principles expressing values, and intentions to report. As expected, the older group scored higher on gist measures. For young adults, categorical thinking, and gist principles predicted intentions, controlling for sex, knowledge, and social pressures. For adolescents, categorical thinking again predicted intentions. For both age groups, adding FTT's predictors accounted for significantly more variance than baseline models.