Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

5-1994

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Education

Major Professor

Marla Peterson

Committee Members

Greer Litton Fox, R. Steve McCallum, Carmen J. Tegano

Abstract

Strong Interest Inventory (Sll) profiles (1985 revision) of 207 student athletes from an NCAA Division I university In the Southeast were analyzed. The Chi-square test was administered to test the hypothesis that the response style on the Strong Interest Inventory of student athletes Is the same as the response style of the non-athlete population from the same university. Discriminant function analysis was used to test the hypothesis that no subset of the variables: race; gender; parent gender; composite college entrance exam score (ACT/SAT); total academic credits from high school; high school grade point average; size of high school locale; high school graduating class size; or sport type, as reported on the student's record, discriminates profiles with a Low Like Preference response style from profiles with a Regular Like Preference response style. Results Indicated a significant difference (p>.001) In the response style on the Sll between student athletes and non-athlete students. None of the nine predictor variables approached significance In predicting response style of student athletes on the Sll. When scores on the Basic Interest Scale for Athletics was added as a tenth predictor variable of Total Like Preferences, the total model was statistically significant F(12) = 5.64, p>.0001, and Athletics Interest was the only significant predictor variable F(1) = 46.13, p>.0001. Correlations between scores on the Basic Interest Scale for Athletics and Total percentage of Like Preferences were such that the higher the score on the athletic interest scale, the higher was the total number of Like Preferences for the entire inventory. Student athletes as a group were shown to be very homogeneous regardless of race, gender, sport type, gender of the parent who is the head of their household, size of high school or home town, or academic achievement in high school. Yet, they differed significantly from the general student population from their same university in their response styles on the S11. Implications for career counseling and career development programming were presented

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