Support Services for Student-Athletes: Assessing the Differences in Usage among Student-Athletes

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the usage rates of support services for student-athletes at a small, private college in the southeast with membership in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), in efforts to understand how universities and sport organizations can assist in the challenges student-athletes face when attempting to balance the demands of both academics and athletics. The researcher utilized surveys from Johnson and Pope to create a Survey of Support Service Usage for Student-Athletes to collect data from 90 student-athletes during the spring 2009 semester. The survey consisted of 19 factors related to support services and required each participant to rate their usage of these services on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from never to often. The results were analyzed using SPSS 17.0 software to generate descriptive statistics including rank, means, and standard deviations. Usage rates were compiled on each of the five independent variables of sport played (5-group), gender (2-group), ethnicity (3-group), residency (2-group), and classification (4-group). Statistical analyses were performed on the 90 (84%) valid surveys to produce demographic results, usage results, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA). The results were organized by (1) demographics and (2) the five independent variables of sport played, gender, ethnicity, residency status, and classification. The six research questions for this study addressed the usage rates and each of the five independent variables. After choosing a moderate to high effect size and using tables, it was determined the sample size needed to be 25-50, which was satisfied through the 90 successful surveys. Usage results were ranked from most used to least used (1 to 19) according to means and include standard deviations. The results indicated that campus involvement beyond athletics and academic advising are the most used support services among student-athletes, while retirement from sports and stress management were the least used support services. The top quartile (1 to 5) of most used support services were spread among the three factor categories of personal services, professional/career services, and academic services. Significant differences (p less than 0.05) were found for the independent variables of sport played and gender. Recommendations for future research might include the expansion of this study to conferences with membership in the NAIA, and also the NAIA in its entirety. In addition, a longitudinal study at the same university may provide more detailed information for higher education circles. Athletic department and student service personnel may utilize the usage rate information in this study as they develop and implement support service strategies and programs to assist student-athletes in managing the challenges of being a college student and an athlete. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone [phone]. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]