College Athletic Programs Research Articles

Affective Response Patterns of the Injured Athlete: An Exploratory Analysis

This study examined the affective response pattern of severely injured athletes. Five athletes from an NCAA Division I university athletic program were followed within 24 hours of injury for 4 weeks. On two nonconsecutive days a week at the same time and place, the athletes completed the Profile of Mood States and indicated their perceived percent rehabilitation. In addition, at the first meeting the athletes were given the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale and a demographic data sheet. At the final meeting the athletes completed an open-ended questionnaire designed to explore affective, cognitive, and behavioral reflections about rehabilitation. ANOVA indicated that affect significantly changed (p<.05) across the 4 week period. Post hoc analyses indicated that this change fits a two-stage process: Stage 1, Times 1−2; Stage 2, Times 3−8, with the two stages being significantly different from each other. The correlation between perceived rehabilitation and total mood disturbance was r=−.69, p<.0001. Correlations for each affective measure and perceived rehabilitation indicated that affective patterns of the rehabilitating athlete were highly related to the perception of rehabilitation, with negative affect diminishing and positive affect increasing as perceived rehabilitation increased.

The Representation of Women in University Athletic Programs

The status and representation of women in university sport continues to be an area of concern and responsibility for the athletic administrator. This paper presents a description of the major philosophical and organizational changes that have occurred with the governance of women’s intercollegiate sport. Data from American and Canadian studies describing the involvement patterns of women in university sport are presented, and areas for reform that will increase the status and representation of women in university sport are put forward. Three areas for reform presented include (a) securing commitment to change, (b) improving professional preparations in career planning for women at high school and university levels who aspire to careers in athletics, as well as professional development for women currently involved in athletic administration, and (c) gaining support from academic areas in the identification of effective, positive change for women in university sport.

Cognitive Styles of French Canadian Athletes

The purpose of this study was to assess field-dependence/independence of 192 French Canadian athletes involved in a university athletic program. Field-dependence refers to one who is strongly influenced by his immediate environment, while a field-independent is individually oriented and much less influenced by environment. Analysis of variance showed that for these athletes there were no significant differences for the embedded figures test scores on age, sex, level of competition, and sports. The highest mean score of 13.86 was obtained by athletes older than 18 yr. of age.

Drug Testing in a University Athletic Program: Protocol and Implementation.

In brief: Much attention is being focused on drug abuse by athletes. As sports medicine physicians become increasingly involved in the drug abuse issue, they are called upon not only to educate and counsel athletes but also to test them for drugs. This paper discusses an athletic drug education/counseling screening program at Wake Forest University. Such a program requires practical decisions regarding which athletes to test under informed consent, which drugs to test for and how to test for them, in what way and how often to collect urine samples for testing, and what measures to take when an athlete has a positive test result. Constant feedback from everyone involved allows for modification of the program as needed to make it more confidential, acceptable, and beneficial.