Department of Kinesiology and Applied Physiology, University of Delaware, 547 South College Avenue, Newark, DE 19716, USA.
School of Health and Rehabilitation Science, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, 453 W 10th Ave, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Feb 18;19(4):2335. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19042335.
Early sport specialization has been associated with an increased risk of musculoskeletal injuries and unfavorable psychological outcomes; however, it is unknown whether sport specialization is associated with worse cognitive, postural, and psychological functions in first-year collegiate student-athletes.
First-year collegiate multisport (MA) and single-sport (SA) student-athletes were identified using a pre-collegiate sport experience questionnaire. The cognitive, postural, and psychological functions were assessed by the Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT), Standardized Assessment of Concussion (SAC), Balance Error Scoring System (BESS), and Brief Symptom Inventory 18 (BSI-18).
MA student-athletes performed higher in cognitive outcomes (e.g., higher ImPACT visual memory composite scores [ß = 0.056, < 0.001]), but had higher psychological distress (e.g., higher BSI-18 global severity index [ß = 0.057, < 0.001]) and no difference in postural stability ( > 0.05) than SA student-athletes.
This study indicated first-year collegiate athletes with a history of sport specialization demonstrate lower cognitive performance but decreased psychological distress and no differences in static postural stability as compared to their MA counterparts. Future studies should consider involving different health measures to better understand the influence of sport specialization on overall physical and mental health.
早期专项运动与肌肉骨骼损伤和不良心理结果的风险增加有关；然而，目前尚不清楚专项运动是否与大学一年级运动员的认知、姿势和心理功能更差有关。
使用大学前运动经历问卷确定大学一年级多运动（MA）和单一运动（SA）运动员。认知、姿势和心理功能通过即时脑震荡后评估和认知测试（ImPACT）、标准化脑震荡评估（SAC）、平衡错误评分系统（BESS）和简明症状量表 18（BSI-18）进行评估。
MA 运动员在认知结果方面表现更好（例如，更高的 ImPACT 视觉记忆综合评分[β=0.056， <0.001]），但心理困扰更高（例如，更高的 BSI-18 总体严重程度指数[β=0.057， <0.001]），而姿势稳定性无差异（>0.05）比 SA 运动员。
本研究表明，与 MA 运动员相比，具有专项运动史的大学一年级运动员表现出较低的认知表现，但心理困扰降低，静态姿势稳定性无差异。未来的研究应考虑纳入不同的健康指标，以更好地了解专项运动对整体身心健康的影响。
