Identity Development and School Alienation in Student Athletes: A Peer Comparative Study on Adolescence
Project no. 20583 · Status: Kapanmış · 2019
Summary
Student athletes whose psycho-social development processes may vary as a result of intensive participation in sporting activities appear as a social sub-group with self-specific dynamics. The aim of the present study is to compare student athletes and non-athletes in terms of identity development and school alienation in adolescence. In the present study, casual comparative ex post facto model was used that is based on quantitative research approach. The sample group of the study consisted of 2422 participants, 1238 (51.1%) student athletes and 1184 (48.9%) non-athletes aged 13-20 years old, selected with stratified sampling method. 15 criteria were used including sport participation status, daily training duration and number of competition per a season etc. for the classification of the athletes and non-athletes. As a result of the inter-rater reliability analysis conducted, the individuals were classified as athletes and non-athletes groups and the reliability score of the analysis was calculated as .94. The questionnaire form used in the data collection process comprised of 4 sections: information form (socio-demographic information and activity parameters), Dimensions of Identity Development Scale, Student Alienation Scale and Athletic Identity Scale. Data analysis was conducted on SPSS 23.0 by using independent t-test, ANOVA analysis, hierarchical and k-means cluster analyses, chi-square test and regression analysis. The findings show that the scores obtained by student athletes and their non-athlete peers on the commitment making, identification with commitment, exploration in depth and ruminative exploration subscales are significantly different (p<.05). On the exploration in breadth subscale, on the other hand, no significant difference was found between the two groups (p>.05). It was also seen that statistically significant differences and multidirectional tendencies existed in the student athletes and their non-athlete peers in identity status (p<.01). Considering the school alienation, it was seen that the mean scores of non-athletes in the weakness and school alienation dimensions were significantly higher, however, the effect size of the differences are in small and very small categories (p<.01). In addition, commitment making was found to be a distinctive factor in school alienation of student athletes (p<.05). Considering components of athletic identity scale, social identity is a reducing predictor and exclusivity is a increasing predictor of school alienation states of student athletes (p<.01). Daily training duration, competition experience and the number of competition per season have a significant effect on school alienation and exclusivity of student athletes (p<.01; p<.05). It was also seen that athletic identity score goes constant along with age in student athletes (p>.05), while athletic identity scores decrease with age in their non-athlete peers (p<.01). While no significant difference was seen in terms of athletic identity between boys and girls (p>.05), boy's mean scores of athletic identity was significantly higher in the non-athletes (p<.01). In conclusion, student athletes have multidirectional tendencies in terms of identity development processes and school alienation levels. Examining the concept of early identity maturation in adolescent student athletes may provide more comprehensive investigations than identity foreclosure. It was seen that student athletes have no single directional and generalized tendencies in terms of identity development and school alienation. On the contrary, multi-directional results may be considered that positive, negative and neutral effects may occur in student athletes' psycho-social developmental processes. Researchers, coaches, parents and teachers are recommended to avoid making optimistic or pessimistic evaluations and generalizations about student athletes and to follow them periodically with different psychometric measurement instruments.