“Sport has always been first for me” but “all my free time is spent doing homework”: Dual career styles in late adolescence

ObjectivesIn adolescence, personally meaningful autobiographical memories begin to integrate into cultural narrative structures to form a life story. We examined how and to what extent adolescent Finnish athletes narrate and integrate significant life events in sport and education into their identities and future narratives in order to delineate the different styles of athletes’ career construction.DesignLongitudinal qualitative study.MethodTen female and eight male, elite junior athletes, aged 15–16 at baseline, participated in individual conversational interviews. The resulting interview data were analyzed using narrative analysis.ResultsThirteen of 18 adolescent athletes drew primarily on the performance narrative plot to construct their life story and five of 18 athletes could not project into the future beyond their athletic selves. We identified three styles of athletes’ career construction. Employing musical terminology as a metaphor, the contrapuntal style entwines sport and education as harmonically related life-themes; monophonic style draws on a prominent athletic life-theme; and dissonant style is underpinned by discord of sport and education. We did not detect direct associations between narrative types (performance, discovery and relational) and career construction styles. We show the dominant style development within an exemplary story.ConclusionExploration of the future and possible selves are critical for developing meaningful (dis)continuity of a dual career pathway from adolescence to adulthood. We conclude that dual career discourse is gaining traction in directing young athletes’ future thinking; however, a broader repertoire of exemplary success stories which allow athletes to imagine achieving excellence in diverse ways would enable them to channel action.     

Personal characteristics as predictors for dual career dropout versus continuation – A prospective study of adolescent athletes from German elite sport schools

ObjectivesThe primary objective of this study is to identify the personal characteristics that predict dropout versus continuation among dual career athletes from different sports who attend sports schools. These schools provide an optimal environment for combining an academic education with a sports career.MethodsAt the end of the school year, all 10th graders (52 girls, 73 boys) from five out of six sports schools in Saxony, Germany, completed a standardised questionnaire that measured personal characteristics deemed important for a successful career – personality traits (Freiburger Persönlichkeitsinventar – FPI), goal orientation (Sport Orientation Questionnaire – SOQ), and volitional skills (Volitional Components in Sport – VKS). In addition, demographic and sport-related data were collected. One year later, at the end of 11th grade, all participants again completed the questionnaire.ResultsAt Time 2, 37 athletes (29.6%) had dropped out of their sport career, and 88 athletes were still pursuing their sport career. A majority of the dropouts were from individual sports (n = 31) and were females (n = 23). A logistic regression analysis of physical complaints (higher for dropouts), win motivation and self-optimisation (each lower for dropouts) as significant covariates correctly classified 65% of the dropouts and 92% of the non-dropouts.ConclusionsPersonal characteristics, motivation and volition in particular, played important roles for those adolescent athletes who remained active in their sport. Accordingly, it is suggested that young athletes receive psychological training focused on these specific personal characteristics.     

Searching for an optimal balance: Dual career experiences of Swedish adolescent athletes

ObjectivesThe paper presents a national level Swedish project aimed at examining adolescent student-athletes' dual career experiences (including sport, studies, and private life) during their first year at national elite sport schools (Swedish abbreviation RIGs will be used) with a particular focus on development of their athletic and student identities. The developmental model of transitions faced by athletes (Wylleman & Lavallee, 2004) and the athletic career transition model (Stambulova, 2003) served as underlying frameworks.DesignA longitudinal mixed-method research design was used with autumn-to-spring quantitative and qualitative parts.MethodSixteen year old student-athletes, representing 27 sports and 33 RIGs (n = 261 in the first and n = 250 in the second measurement), completed three quantitative instruments. Additionally, in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 participants.ResultsResults revealed (a) significant changes in the participants' transition/adaptation variables from the first to the second measurement accompanied by rather high perceived quality of adjustment at RIG both at the beginning and at the end of the educational year; (b) significant contributions of the transition variables to the perceived quality of adjustment with personal resources as a key predictor; (c) significantly higher athletic than student identity in both quantitative measurements, but with inter- and intra-individual differences with regard to balancing the two shown by the qualitative data.ConclusionsThe study contributes to deeper understanding of dual career experiences of Swedish adolescent athletes; the authors provide recommendations for psychological dual career support services at RIGs and outline future research in the Swedish dual career model.     

The role of individual and parental expectations in student-athletes’ career adaptability profiles

ObjectivesTo support holistic development, adolescent student-athletes are encouraged to integrate sport with education/academics (i.e., dual careers). Career adaptability, as a psychological resource, may help youth athletes cope with transitions and successfully manage their careers. Individuals with a plan and higher expectations for the future demonstrate higher career adaptability and are better prepared for the future. In the present study, we examined what kinds of distinct career adaptability profiles could be identified among youth athletes in Finland at the transition stage to a sports high school (i.e., specialized school for athletes). Moreover, we investigated whether youth athletes’ success expectations about school and sport, and corresponding parental expectations, predicted the probability of student-athletes demonstrating a certain career adaptability profile. Next, we examined how gender was represented in the different profiles. Design and methods: The present study is part of the Longitudinal Finnish Dual Career study. A total of 391 student-athletes (51% females) from six sports high schools in Finland, and 448 parents (42% fathers) participated in the study. The student-athletes answered questionnaires on career adaptability (Career Adapt-Abilities Scale – Dual Career Form) and success expectations at the beginning and then again at the end of the first year of sports high school. At the beginning of sports high school, parents responded to a questionnaire about their expectations of success for their children in both academics and in sport. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling and latent profile analysis. Results: Five distinct adaptability profiles across time were identified: stable, very low adaptability, stable low adaptability, stable moderate adaptability, stable high adaptability, and increased adaptability. Student-athletes’ high success expectations in academics and sport, and mothers’ high success expectations in academics, increased the probability of student-athletes showing higher adaptability profiles. Conclusions: The student-athletes’ high level of expectations for both sport and academics are associated with career adaptability, and mothers’ high expectations of student-athletes’ academic success relate to higher career adaptability profiles among student-athletes and can thus be considered an important factor in supporting their dual careers.     

Dual career pathways of transnational athletes

ObjectivesTransnationalism, as part of the globalization processes, has transformed the lifestyle and the course of athletes' careers. This presents previously unexplored challenges encountered by student-athletes in combining athletic and academic pursuits. In this article, we propose a conceptual framework for the taxonomy of transnational dual careers (DC).Design and methodNarrative inquiry from the life story perspective was used to elicit and analyze career narratives of six transnational athletes (3 male and 3 female), generating about five interview hours per athlete. The developmental transition from secondary to higher education was chosen as a key transition to classify the DC pathways. Additional insights into DC mobilization across international borders were gleaned by employing the typologies of sport migrants developed in the sport labor migration research.ResultsThree patterns of transnational DC were discerned from the narratives based on the direction of geographic mobility and the core migration motive underpinning the storyline. Within the present dataset, the taxonomies are: (1) Within EU mobility: the sport exile DC pathway; (2) Mobility to the U.S.A.: the sport mercenary DC pathway; and (3) Mobility to the U.S.A.: the nomadic cosmopolitan DC pathway.ConclusionsThe identified transnational DC paths are not exhaustive, and highlight possibilities of individual development, unfolding through the matrices of social structures in a given location. Further research with a diverse set of transnational athletes is needed to test and expand the proposed taxonomy.     

The role of career adaptability resources in dual career pathways: A person-oriented longitudinal study across elite sports upper secondary school

ObjectivesObtaining education is an important milestone in athletes’ preparation for their professional career after sport. Literature indicates that combining school and sport is not an easy task for many aspiring youth athletes. It has been proposed that career adaptability, which refers to psychosocial resources enabling individuals to solve complex occupational transitions, present and anticipated vocational development tasks, and career related challenges could be a relevant concept for applied work with student-athletes. In this study, we examined whether there are distinct developmental profiles of career adaptability among adolescent athletes across the upper secondary school years. We also investigated the associations between career adaptability and sport withdrawal and academic achievement.Design and methodsA total of 391 Finnish-speaking student-athletes completed the questionnaire on career adaptability (Career Adapt-Abilities Scale – Dual Career Form; Ryba & Aunola, 2015; Ryba et al., 2017) at the beginning and end of upper secondary school. The participants’ background information about their sport participation and grade point average were collected upon completion of each grade of upper secondary school. The data were analysed using cluster analysis, cross-tabulation, and one-way analysis of variance.ResultsFour distinct adaptability profiles were identified: higher adaptability, lower adaptability, increasing adaptability, and decreasing adaptability. Higher and lower adaptability profiles showed stable levels of adaptability across time, whereas the adaptability level either increased or decreased in the other two profiles. Student-athletes with a lower career adaptability profile were overrepresented among those who withdrew from competitive sports, and they reported lower grade point averages than those with higher scores of career adaptability.ConclusionsHigh scores of career adaptability were associated with high grades, whereas low scores of career adaptability were associated with low grades and a probability to withdraw from competitive sport. Therefore, it is recommended that career adaptability be considered as important self-regulation resources for sustaining dual career pathways over time.     

Reconciling the maintenance of on-field success with off-field player development: A case study of a club culture within the Australian Football League

ObjectivesAs a contribution to developing understanding of how professional athletes may successfully develop a dual career and maintain a balance between life on and off the field, the present study sought to analyse a professional Australian Football club culture that has been identified within the industry as successfully supporting player dual career development. At the same time the club has been able to maintain a successful on-field record.MethodsA case study methodology was used for the analysis with Schein's (2010) levels of organisational culture providing a theoretical framework. Data were collected by means of fifteen interviews which included players (11), and non-playing staff (4) comprising an executive staff member, a coach, a team manager, and the player development manager. Observations were also made and recorded by the first author during a two week immersion in the club environment.ResultsFour basic assumptions that explained the coherence between espoused values and artefacts concerning dual career development were identified. They were that: dual career development is important however football comes first; balancing sport and off-field life ensures players' well-being and facilitates on-field performance; players should be encouraged to find personal meaning in their dual career activity, and; the club has an ethical responsibility to support player dual career development.ConclusionAnalysis of the findings suggests that the successful support of dual careers requires a coherent club culture, where related activities exist as part of a holistic approach to player development. This approach must recognise the priority placed on athletic performance.     

Living,resisting, and playing the part of athlete: Narrative tensions in elite sport

ObjectivesTo explore: (i) How elite and professional sport culture might steer individuals towards particular stories, identities, and actions; (ii) How athletes navigate or respond to these cultural pressures.DesignCross-sectional qualitative methodology.MethodNarrative interviews and focus groups with 21 elite and professional athletes followed by a narrative analysis of structure and form.ResultsAthletes demonstrated one of three processes. Individuals who live the part of athlete story their life and act in ways that conform to a culturally dominant performance narrative. Here, identity is foreclosed, relationships sacrificed in the pursuit of success, and long-term wellbeing threatened. Over time, alternative narrative types may provoke moral reflection on their story and actions. Individuals who resist the part of athlete sustain a life story and identity that deviates from the performance narrative, drawing on alternative narrative types. Their resistance is typically overt as they publicly demonstrate actions that align with their multidimensional story. Individuals who play the part of athlete modify their story and actions depending on sociocultural context. These individuals covertly maintain a multidimensional life story, but silence this story when powerful others require performance stories.ConclusionsAlthough some elite/professional athletes' life stories revolve around performance outcomes, this is not a prerequisite for excellence. Other athletes achieve excellence while sustaining a multidimensional life story and identity. To do so, they navigate a culture that expects a performance focus, through overt resistance or covertly manipulating their public stories and actions.     

Exploring the life skills needs of British adolescent athletes

ObjectivesYouth sport programs have been designed to facilitate positive development of young sports people by teaching life skills. It is unclear which life skills are needed by adolescent athletes and which life skills should be included in youth sport programs. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore how life skills are defined, which life skills British adolescent athletes need, and which life skills are the most important.Design and methodNineteen adolescent athletes, 10 coaches, 4 experts in sport psychology (pilot group) and 5 graduate students (pilot group) participated in a series of focus groups. An inductive analysis revealed how life skills are defined, which life skills British adolescent athletes need, and of these skills which are the most important.ResultsLife skills were defined as ranges of transferable skills needed for everyday life, by everybody, that help people thrive. Participants described the need for interpersonal skills including social skills, respect, leadership, family interactions, and communication. Personal skills including self-organization, discipline, self-reliance, goal setting, managing performance outcomes, and motivation, were also reported. Social skills were identified as the most important life skills.ConclusionsIn conclusion, findings add support to existing positive youth development research while adding an insight into which life skills should be built into youth sport programs in the United Kingdom.     

The approach‐avoidance framework for identifying athletes’ coping style as a function of gender and race

Anshel, M.H., Kang, M. & Miesner, M. (2010). The approach‐avoidance framework for identifying athletes’ coping style as a function of gender and race. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. The purpose of this study was to identify the coping styles of competitive athletes as a function of gender and race in response to events experienced during the contest perceived as highly stressful using the approach and avoidance coping framework. Participants (N = 218) consisted of 111 males (48 African American and 63 Caucasian) and 107 females (41 African American and 66 Caucasian), and ranged in age from 18 to 54 yrs (M ± SD; 22.29 ± 3.9 yrs). They attended a university in the southeastern US, and were considered highly skilled athletes based on their current or former participation as competitive athletes. A 12‐item inventory was completed consisting of six approach coping and six avoidance coping strategy items. Confirmatory factor analysis, composite reliability and Cronbach’s alpha indicated acceptable model‐data fit and internal scale consistency. The results suggested the athletes’ preferred coping style was avoidance, rather than approach. A 2 × 2 ANOVA showed significant main effects for gender (p = 0.003) and race (p < 0.01); males used more approach coping than females, while Caucasians applied more approach coping than African Americans. No significant interaction was found. The results indicated the need for future study on examining gender and race as moderating variables in examining athletes’ coping styles.     

Supporting dual career in Spain: Elite athletes' barriers to study

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to analyze whether a Career Assistance Program (PROAD) facilitates the dual career.Design and methodA cross-sectional, prospective and quantitative design was used. A questionnaire was sent to all of Spain's elite athletes from Olympic sports. Of the 2378 elite athletes, 575 (332 men and 243 women) completed the 29-item questionnaire. The overall response rate was 24.2%.ResultsMost of the athletes perceived the dual career as difficult. Their most significant barriers are related to time management. The PROAD athletes and the non-PROAD athletes encountered the same barriers to studying. In general, the PROAD program seemed to have a positive effect on the academic level an athlete achieves. The athletes enrolled in the PROAD were more informed than the non-enrolled athletes. PROAD athletes were more proactive in demanding help and they had a closer relationship with the Spanish Sport Council than the non-PROAD athletes.ConclusionsStudent-athletes have several problems with the normalized educational system. Sport psychologists should reinforce the athlete's strengths, and they should seek the opportunities the sport context provides to athletes. The barriers could be minimized by adopting certain strategies. The PROAD program seems to be useful in terms of providing information, in ensuring elite athletes work or study before the end of their sports career, in making them responsible and autonomous, and in being more active.     

Olympic athletes back to retirement: A qualitative longitudinal study

ObjectiveIn this qualitative longitudinal study we assess the retirement process of Olympic athletes. We aim to evaluate the influence that following a dual career or being exclusively focused on sport can have in this process. We compare athletes' prospective views before retirement (Torregrosa, Boixadós, Valiente, & Cruz, 2004) with their retrospective accounts ten years later. This allows us to assess athletes' accuracy in predicting the process and its outcomes in relation to the trajectory followed.DesignWe designed a qualitative longitudinal study (Epstein, 2002) conducting semi-structured interviews.MethodFifteen Olympic athletes were interviewed twice. Thematic analysis was performed on the qualitative data comparing prospective views and retrospective accounts of: (a) retirement planning, (b) voluntary termination, (c), multiple personal identities, (d) availability of social support, and (e) active coping strategies.ResultsTen athletes reported positive transitions related to their favorable approach to the five categories above. Most athletes reporting positive transitions followed dual careers (i.e., parallel or convergent trajectories). Five out of fifteen athletes reported unexpected difficulties in the transition. Four of these followed a linear trajectory during their sporting career. A clear view of retirement in the prospective interviews also facilitated retirement for an athlete following a linear trajectory. While a diffuse view of retirement in the prospective interview signaled future difficulties.ConclusionResults from this qualitative longitudinal study suggest that promoting dual careers in elite sport and working on the prospective view of retirement can facilitate retirement from elite sport and the transition to an alternative professional career.     

Life Design Career Counselling with an Abandoned Adolescent: A Case Study

This article describes the value of life design counselling with an abandoned adolescent female. The participant was selected purposively from among a group of abandoned adolescent females who had expressed a need for career counselling. The life intervention comprised two 90-minute sessions per week over a period of a month. Life design data included collage, family constellation, life line, career style interview, asset map and life chapters. Following the intervention, the participant demonstrated career adaptability and an eagerness to take an active part in her evolving life story. Life design counselling has potential to meet the career counselling needs of children with neglect and abandonment experience.     

Perceptions of dual career development among elite level swimmers and basketball players

ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to (1) examine swimmers' and basketball players' perceptions of their dual career development (2) explore these perceptions for possible differences between male and female participants as well as between swimmers and basketball players.Design and methodSemi-structured interviews with 12 retired Slovene elite level swimmers and basketball players (six males and six females) were used to discuss about transitions, demands and challenges which occurred throughout their dual career development. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using the qualitative analytic software program Nvivo 10.ResultsQualitative analysis of interviews revealed that athletes perceived their athletic career in strong and reciprocal connection to other domains in their lives, i.e. academic/vocational, psychological, psychosocial, financial level. Some of the transitions occurring in their dual career were experienced as particularly important (e.g., transition to university, finishing university study) and connected to several challenges occurring at different levels of development. Differences between male and female participants, swimmers and basketball players in this study were identified.ConclusionThe study revealed a usefulness of using a holistic perspective when investigating athletes' dual career development, and a reciprocal nature of transitions occurring at different levels of athletes' development.     

Exploration as a predictor of congruence in adolescents' career choices

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that adolescents who explore a variety of career alternatives will make career choices that are more congruent with their personality styles than will adolescents who explore less broadly. The sample of 57 female and 45 male high school seniors (mean age = 17.6 years) completed an ego identity interview, from which each occupation they reported considering was coded for four dimensions: occupational prestige, substantive complexity, interest environment, and gender dominance. Participants also completed the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory and a verbal ability measure. Two indices were constructed to assess the degree of congruence between the adolescent's primary career choice and personality style. Regression analyses indicated that breadth of exploration in the four career dimensions, particularly in gender dominance exploration, was predictive of congruence for males and females.     

“Women easily feel that they have lost a year if they don’t ski faster”: Finnish ski coaches’ discursive constructions of gendered dual career pathways

ObjectivesEarlier qualitative researchers studying athletes’ dual careers (DCs) have shown that sociocultural discourses on gender are ingrained in DC policies and practices, creating gender inequalities and hierarchies. In this study, we aimed to extend this body of research by examining how Finnish elite youth ski coaches discursively construct athletes’ education and gender in their talk and coaching practices. Similarly, we examined how coaches’ beliefs about athletes' holistic development are interlinked with broader sociocultural discourses on gender.DesignQualitative study.MethodsWe conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 Finnish ski coaches (seven male, three female) aged 25–62 years (M = 38.5), and then analyzed the data using reflexive thematic analysis, interpreted through a feminist poststructuralist lens.FindingsCoaches’ discursive practices regarding education depended on their athletes' ages. For athletes in secondary education, the coaches predominantly drew on DC discourses that emphasized the compatibility of sports and education, but for athletes transitioning to senior-level sports, they drew on dominant performance discourses, believing that athletes at the senior level should prioritize their sports. Moreover, coaches discursively constructed athletic development as especially important for female athletes, who were perceived as less capable of excelling in sports and therefore needing to invest in multiple careers.ConclusionsBy drawing on gender stereotypes and binary understandings of gender, the coaches discursively reproduced gender hierarchies and unequal power relations in sports. These gendered discourses influence athletes' DC aspirations and the gendering of DC pathways.     

A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Performance Enhancement Attitude Scale for adult and adolescent athletes

ObjectivesThe Performance Enhancement Attitude Scale (PEAS; Petróczi & Aidman, 2009) is an extensively used questionnaire to assess doping attitudes among adult and adolescent athletes. To date, however, there is limited evidence to support the structure of the PEAS with either adult or adolescent athletes. The aim of this paper was to assess the factor structure of the PEAS with adult and adolescent athletes.DesignCross-sectional.MethodsOne thousand, one-hundred and fifty-four athletes, who were aged between 12 and 68 years (M age = 21.76 years, SD = 7.68) completed the PEAS in the presence of a research assistant. We subjected the data to Confirmatory Factor Analysis.ResultsThe original 17-item PEAS displayed a poor model among the overall sample, and with the sub-samples of adult and adolescent athletes. The 11-item, 8-item, and 6-item versions of the PEAS, which were used in previous studies, provided a better fit than the original 17-item PEAS. The 8-item version of the PEAS demonstrated the best fit for adults, but no model exhibited a good fit with adolescent athletes.ConclusionsScholars could consider using the 8-item version of the PEAS with adults. Our data, however, infers that researchers should use the PEAS with caution to assess doping attitudes among adolescent athletes, due to the poor model fit of all versions tested. The accurate assessment of attitudes towards doping among adolescent athletes requires questionnaires specifically designed for this population, and grounded in an appropriate theoretical framework.     

Coaching preferences of adolescent youths and their parents

Abstract

This study compared preferred coaching styles of children and their parents using the Leadership Scale for Sport (LSS; Chelladurai & Saleh, 1980). The LSS preferred form was revised and then administered to children ranging from 10 to 18 years of age who competed in summer youth sport leagues and to one parent within each family unit (n = 239). A doubly multivariate repeated measure MANOVA revealed a significant multivariate difference for adolescent athletes and their parents on the five subscales of the LSS. Discriminant function and univariate analyses indicated that male and female children and their parents differed on autocratic and democratic behavior and children had a significantly higher score on democratic behavior and social support than did their parents. Parents, coaches, and researchers in youth sports could use the revised LSS to determine children-athletes’ preferences for coaching styles and for developing more effective programs.     

Narrative and discursive perspectives on athletic identity: Past,present, and future

ObjectivesThe dominant role-based conceptualisations of athletic identity have recently been challenged in favour of theoretical perspectives that view identity as a complex cultural construction. In the present study, we analysed empirical studies on athletic identity positioned in narrative and discursive approaches to gain an insight into the use and subsequent contribution of these approaches to knowledge production in this research topic.Design and methodA total of 23 articles, of which 18 narrative studies and five discursive studies, were identified in a systematic literature search. We used the meta-study method to analyse these studies in terms of basic assumptions, methodologies, and findings.ResultsEarly narrative studies focused on biographical disruption in career termination and/or severe injury, whereas more recent studies examined the impact of different identity narratives on athletes' well-being and career decisions. Discursive studies examined the multiple ways in which dominant understandings of gender, age, and the athletic body are (re)produced and normalised within sporting cultures and institutions and can act to constrain athletes to certain identities and practices. Both approaches highlighted that elite sport culture offers limited narrative resources or subject positions for athletes, and can endanger athletes' well-being if they are unable to comply with dominant ideals of being an athlete.ConclusionsNarrative and discursive approaches have advanced understandings of the constitutive role of sporting culture in athletic identity formation. Future research should continue exploring athletic identity in various physical cultural contexts and seek to identify alternative narratives and discourses that may enable athletes to construct more adaptive identities.