Injury History and Mental Health Indicators: Profiles in Young Soccer Players

Background and Objectives: The relationship between mental health and sports injuries is increasingly relevant in soccer, given the psychological vulnerability of young athletes to training and competition demands. This study aimed to examine the association between injury history and mental health indicators (anxiety, stress, and depression), and to ex-plore whether injury history differed according to gender, competitive category, and play-ing position. Materials and Methods: A total of 146 soccer players (79 males, 67 females) aged 12–30 years from Under-14, Under-16, Under-18, and Senior categories completed the STAI-T and DASS-21 questionnaires. Mental health levels were compared across inju-ry history groups (no injuries, 1–2 injuries, >2 injuries), and associations with gender, cat-egory, and position were examined. Results: Overall, 73.3% of players reported at least one injury, with no significant differences by gender, category, or playing position. Significant differences were found for anxiety: players with a higher number of injuries reported higher levels of trait anxiety (STAI-T) and anxiety symptoms (DASS-21). No significant group differences were observed for stress and depression, although scores showed an in-creasing trend with greater injury history. Conclusions: Injury history in soccer players was primarily associated with anxiety indicators. These findings highlight the importance of considering the emotional impact of injuries, especially anxiety, and support the inclusion of targeted psychological strategies within injury prevention programs and during reha-bilitation.