Patterns of Change in Athletic Identity After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction

Changes in athletic identity have been documented after injury and other sport transitions in nomothetic investigations. Patterns of change in athletic identity after injury have not been examined systematically at the individual level. In the current study, secondary analyses were performed on two data sets (N = 43 and N = 80) in which athletic identity values were available for before and at least six months after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. A stable pattern of athletic identity was most common (48–68% of participants), followed, respectively, by a decreasing pattern (19–45% of participants) and an increasing pattern (7–14% of participants) in both data sets, with a trend toward a decreasing pattern over time in the data set in which athletic identity values were available up to two years after surgery. Partial support was obtained for the claim that decreases in athletic identity after ACL surgery are related to postoperative perceptions of knee symptoms and function. The current intraindividual findings complement the results of nomothetic studies and suggest that although stability of athletic identity after sport injury seems to be the norm, changes in athletic identity are also common and should be considered in applied work with athletes who have sustained injuries.