Why parents permit their children to play high-risk sports: An exploratory study.

Sport concussions can have serious cognitive, academic, psychological, and neurological consequences. Although most parents permit their children to play sports with high concussion risk, little research has examined why parents make these decisions. This study examined factors associated with parents' willingness to permit their children to play high-risk sports and whether their children played high-risk sports. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that greater concussion risk acceptance, stronger trust in coaches, athletic trainers, and medical personnel, stronger character and toughness beliefs, being a male parent, and prior parent participation in contact sports predicted willingness. Objective concussion knowledge, overconfidence in concussion knowledge, education, household income, and concussion history did not predict willingness. Concussion risk acceptance partially mediated the relationship between trust and willingness. Logistic regression analyses showed that stronger character and toughness beliefs, greater concussion risk acceptance, and being a male parent predicted whether the parent's child played a high-risk sport, but concussion knowledge and the other variables were not significant predictors. Parents' decisions were influenced more strongly by beliefs, attitudes, and risk acceptance than by concussion knowledge. Efforts to promote informed decisions may benefit from addressing beliefs about character development, trust in sport professionals, and acceptance of concussion-related risks.