Dual career motivation and athletic identity on elite athletes

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze if the athletic identity and the dual career motivation depends on the type of sport and the gender. The sample consisted of 63 elite athletes (21.8 ± 3.2 years old). They were all studying higher education studies. Thirty-six were women (21.4 ± 2.9 years old) and twenty-seven men (22.4 ± 3.5 years old). Thirty-one were from individual sports and thirty-two from team sports. The Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS; Brewer et al., 1993) and the Student Athlete’s Motivation toward Sports and Academics Questionnaire Italian version (SAMSAQ-IT; Lupo et al., 2012) were applied. The athletes of individual sports (23.78 ± 8.83 hours) trained more hours per week (23.78 ± 8.83 hours) than the team sport athletes (12.9 ± 4.67 hours) (F1,59= 34.73; p< .001; η2= 0.371). Men had a stronger athletic identity than women (F1,51= 4,27; p= .044; η2= .077). A multivariate effect was found at the SAMSAQ-IT depending on the type of sport (F3,43= 3.98; p= .014). The athletes of individual sports achieved higher values than the athletes of team sports (F1,45= 11.72; p= .001; η2= 0.207 for SAM; F1,45= 7.75; p= .008; η2= 0.147 for AM and F1,45= 5.20; p= .027; η2= .104 for CAM). The difficulties observed on women and athletes of individual sports could not be attributed neither to a low academic motivation nor a strong athletic identity.