Balancing Academics and Athletics: Examining Academic and Athletic Identity Profiles in a Large Sample of NCAA Division I College Athletes

Abstract

College athletes balance academic and athletic roles and, as a result, can hold different combinations of academic and athletic identities. The purpose of this study was to identify common identity profiles in a large sample of Division I (elite) college athletes in the U.S. and to examine these profiles on a number of measures in academics and athletics: performance, motivation (e.g., achievement goals, autonomous motivation, competence, interest, effort, value, persistence, passion), satisfaction, and ethical conduct (e.g., cheating, plagiarism, sportspersonship, gamesmanship, aggression). Profiles were derived in Study 1 (N = 1124) and cross-validated with an independent sample in Study 2 (N = 184). Results showed four common identity profiles: (1) fully engaged college athletes with the highest academic and athletic identities, (2) committed athletes with a low academic identity and a high athletic identity, (3) academics-focused college athletes with an average academic identity and a low athletic identity, and (4) academically unengaged athletes with an extremely low academic identity and a low athletic identity. The identity profiles differed significantly across the measures of academic and athletic performance, achievement motivation (mastery, performance, task, and ego goals), satisfaction, and ethical conduct (academic misconduct, homework cheating, plagiarism, test cheating, sportspersonship, gamesmanship, instrumental aggression) in Study 1, as well as autonomous motivation (competence, relatedness, value/usefulness, effort/importance), academic persistence, and athletic passion (harmonious, obsessive) in Study 2. Taken together, findings provided evidence of both the multidimensional nature of college athletes’ identities and the heterogeneity of the college athlete population. Overall, these findings point to the importance of concurrent examination of academic and athletic identities as separate yet interrelated dimensions in research studies. This approach allows for a comprehensive understanding of college athletes' experiences and provides a more nuanced perspective on their identity development.