Breaking the Silence: Examining the Role of Parent Involvement and Concussion Knowledge on Sports-Related Concussion Conversations

The current study investigates the role of parents’ concussion knowledge, value-relevant involvement (VRI), outcome-relevant involvement (ORI), and impression-relevant involvement (IRI) on their intentions to communicate with their children about recognizing and reporting sports-related concussions (SRC) symptoms. Among 249 parents of youth athletes between the ages of 9 and 15, SRC knowledge, VRI, and ORI were positively associated with parents' SRC communication intentions, while IRI was a negative predictor. Contrary to our hypotheses, parents with higher IRI were less likely to report SRC communication intentions as knowledge increased. Similarly, as knowledge increased, parents with higher ORI were also less likely to report intentions to communicate with their child about the importance of reporting a SRC. Additionally, parents with lower SRC knowledge were more likely to seek information about communicating with their child about SRCs. The study highlights the importance of considering the interplay between parental involvement and SRC knowledge, as well as underlying factors of SRC parent-child communication. Future research should identify specific goals for SRC communication to optimize educational intervention efforts and maximize the potential impact of communication on SRC reporting rates in youth sports.