Exploration of Factors Related to the Development of Vocational Identity in Collegiate Student-Athletes

Abstract

The goal of this study was to understand the vocational consequences and benefits of being a student-athlete in a large university and competitive level of sport, and how these contribute to the development of a student-athlete's vocational identity. A mass email was sent to the entire student-athlete population at a Division I university asking potential participants to reply to the email if they were interested in doing a one-time, one-hour interview on their career development process. Semi-structured interviews were conducted on the university campus with 14 student-athletes. The participants as a group were diverse, including eight females and six males, a variety of class years (freshman to graduate student), and representing eight different sports. With participant consent, each interview was audio recorded. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using an open coding process by multiple independent raters. A grounded theory approach was used as a guiding research framework for the data analysis process. Results were organized in terms of five research questions posed in the study. The overall factors that influence student-athlete vocational identity were as follows: (a) occupational engagement prior to college, (b) parental influence, (c) personality characteristics, (d) variety of social groups, (e) the academic environment, (f) coaches' attitudes regarding academics, (g) tailored career resources and services, and (h) understanding of NCAA and University regulations. Additionally, the developmental crisis concept of vocational action versus vocational delay was devised and discussed as a significant pattern in the data. Limitations of the current study are discussed, and directions for future research are provided.