The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of college athletic department administrators (athletic directors, faculty representatives, football coaches, and basketball coaches) toward the athletic and academic achievement of student athletes and to compare administrators' perceptions with those of student athletes (NCAA, 1988). The review of literature discussed the history and development of the NCAA, college admission predictors, standardized tests, involvement of high schools in academic preparation of student athletes, and the NCAA legislation of Propositions 48 and 42. Additionally, programs which satisfy the needs and validate the credibility of student athletes and educational institutions are suggested. A questionnaire was designed to measure the attitudes of college athletic department administrators toward the academic and athletic accomplishments of student athletes. The results were then compared to a similar study completed by the NCAA (1988) on student athletes' attitudes toward these issues. The findings revealed significant group differences among athletic directors, faculty representatives, football coaches, and basketball coaches and significant comparative differences between the two studies. The data indicated that the responses of athletic directors and faculty representatives were often similar, as were those of football and basketball coaches. On questions that supported academics, athletic directors and faculty representatives were much more sympathetic than coaches. When the question promoted athletic concepts, coaches were more supportive than athletic directors or faculty representatives. When an issue involved both academics and athletics, the gap was reduced but athletic directors and faculty representatives showed stronger support than coaches. Comparison of the two studies confirmed strong opposition by athletes to questions on athletic eligibility. Student athletes were consistently negative on any issue threatening their eligibility, whereas athletic department administrators were generally supportive. When academic questions were addressed, student athletes were supportive though not as positive in their responses as athletic department administrators. Many of the responses and comparisons were anticipated and emulated recent research.

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For the past twenty years, burnout has been extensively a topic of researched (Coakley, 1992; Creswell & Eklund, 2006; Lemyre, Treasure, & Roberts, 2006; Maslach & Jackson, 1984; Raedeke, 1997, Silva, 1990; Smith, 1986). Burnout can negatively affect athletes and student-athletes for various reasons including intense training loads, decreased performance, psychological distress, and emotional exhaustion (Raedeke, 1997; Smith, 1986). It is imperative to determine causes of burnout across multiple populations. Numerous research on burnout have suggested several contributing factors including: increased stress, exhaustion, intense workload, injury, pressure, entrapment, and staleness (Cresswell & Eklund, 2006; Lai & Wiggins, 2003; Lemyre et al., 2006; Price & Weiss, 2000; Raedeke, Lunney, & Venables, 2006). However, research has been limited to professional and NCAA Division I student-athletes. Thus, further research is warranted because most Division II & Division III institutions have fundamental philosophical differences such as stressing academics (NCAA, 2005). Because of potential differences among competition levels, it is possible that the causes of burnoutamong Division I and Division II student-athletes may vary. The purpose of this study was to assess the causes of burnout among student-athletes in Division II institutions. The Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ) was the primary instrument for the present study. The ABQ consists of three subscales: Reduced sense of accomplishment, emotional/physical exhaustion, and sport devaluation. Participants were members of 38 Division II institutions. Participants consisted of both male and female student-athletes within the sports of basketball and track and field teams.A 2 x 2 x 2 (Gender x Type of Scholarship x School Status) was employed to determine if there were significant causes of burnout among Division II athletes. Males that did not have any type of scholarship reported the lowest levels of burnout among the three types (None/Academic/Athletic), whereas females that did not have any type of scholarship reported the highest levels of burnout.On the subscale of Emotional/Physical Exhaustion, junior males had the highest levels emotional and physical exhaustion, while junior females had significantly lower levels of emotional and physical exhaustion. In addition to the Gender x Year interaction, a Gender x Type of Scholarship interaction was also reported in Emotional/Physical Exhaustion. Males that did not have any type of scholarship reported the lowest levels of emotional and physical exhaustion, while females that did not have any scholarship reported the highest levels of physical and emotional exhaustion.Student-athletes with no scholarship reported higher levels of reduced athletic accomplishment, compared to student-athletes that with full scholarships. Also, athletes with no scholarships had higher levels of reduced athletic accomplishment than athletes on athletic scholarships. / School of Physical Education, Sport, and Exercise Science

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 161-167). / Microfiche. / x, 167 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm

The purpose of this study is to examine the adjustment issues facing international students attending American colleges and universities and the types of social support in an era post 9-11. Student-athletes face a variety of challenges when playing competitive sport. Foreign student-athletes have additional heavy burdens with physical training and language problems. International students and international student-athletes attending one of five universities in the State of Indiana (N = 102) completed a survey packet including Demographic, Social Support Survey (SSS) and Acculturative Stress Scale for International Students (ASSIS).The findings of this study would suggest that the participating international students, including talented foreign student-athletes, had low acculturative stress despite studying abroad in the United States in a post 9-11 era. Social support may not be related to acculturative stress for the participants in this study. However, there is no doubt that it is important for international students to immediately adjust to a new environment to minimize the potential of adjustment issues arising. This study may be helpful in identifying international students potentially at need of special assistance and support service. Coaches or academic counselors should pay more attention on the support services and acculturative stress of international students in their initial period. / School of Physical Education

In 1991, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) created the Challenging Athletes' Minds for Personal Success (CHAMPS)/Life Skills Program to support the student development initiatives of participating universities and colleges and to enhance the quality of the collegiate student-athlete experience within the university setting (NCAA, 2005). The CHAMPS/Life Skills Program focuses on five areas: Academic Excellence, Athletic Excellence, Personal Development, Career Development, and Service. Very few modifications have been made to the CHAMPS/Life Skills Program Educational material. The material is out of date and does not meet the needs of instructors or collegiate student-athletes. Many university faculty members use various forms of technology to supplement their teaching methods. The current presentation of the CHAMPS/Life Skills Program content exists only in paper- and pencil- format.The purpose of this creative project was to update the existing CHAMPS/Life Skills Program material and transform the material into an electronic format. This project focused on updating the Personal Development chapter, including updates to topics such as: stress management and self-esteem. A Sport Psychology chapter was created to equip CHAMPS/Life Skills Program instructors with sport psychology knowledge applicable to a collegiate student-athlete population. Electronic and additional hard copy resources were created in this project. The updated chapters and an evaluation form were distributed to three academicians familiar with the Creative Project. The academicians were asked to provide feedback and evaluate the updated chapters. The provided feedback can be used during the final preparation of the CHAMPS/Life Skills Program Manual. / School of Physical Education, Sport, and Exercise Science

This study investigated the factors that were influential in the college selection process of NCAA Division I, II and III softball players. It also investigated the differences between the influential factors for student-athletes at Division I small institutions, medium institutions, and large institutions. The participants in this study consisted of 21 teams or 323 female collegiate softball student-athletes and the instrument used was the Influential Factors Survey for Student-Athletes. The top five influential factors were the school offers specific major of interest, academic reputation of college, coach's personality/style, academic facilities (library, computer labs, etc.), and the opportunity to play early in career. The academics section of the survey was deemed most influential by the softball student-athletes in this study. Differences were found within the college selection process of softball student-athletes at Division I, Division II, and Division III institutions (p < .05). Division I student-athletes viewed athletics as more influential than Division II student-athletes. Division II student-athletes viewed academics as more influential than both Division I student-athletes and Division III student-athletes. Division II student-athletes viewed social atmosphere as more influential than Division I student-athletes and also revealed that Division III student-athletes viewed social atmosphere as more influential than Division II student-athletes. Division I student-athletes viewed coaching staff as more influential than Division II student-athletes and Division III student-athletes. Division II student-athletes viewed financial aid as more influential than Division I student-athletes and Division III student-athletes. Differences were also found within the college selection process of softball student-athletes at NCAA Division I small, medium, and large conferences (p < .05). Division I, large school student-athletes viewed athletics as more influential than Division I, medium school student-athletes and Division I, small school student-athletes. Division I, small school student-athletes viewed financial aid as more influential than Division I, large school student-athletes. It can be concluded form the current study that softball student-athletes feel academic factors are the most influential in selecting a college or university to attend. / School of Physical Education, Sport, and Exercise Science

There is no abstract available for this thesis. / School of Physical Education

A sample of 674 first-year student-athletes at Ball State University were examined for five consecutive years (2004-2008) to determine what combination of demographic, academic, and athletic variables best predicted first-year GPA and retention into the second year of college. The dependent variables of first-year GPA and retention were chosen because they are two primary components used to calculate the Academic Progress Rate, a semester by semester evaluation of team academic performance used by the NCAA (Christianson, 2004). Results revealed college student-athletes had a higher first-year GPA if they were female (r = .36), Caucasian (r = .36), attended college relatively close to their hometown (r = .09), scored well on standardized tests (r = .49), had a respectable high school GPA (r = .65), were ranked high in their graduating high school class (r = -.58), had a large high school graduating class (r = .15), declared a major upon entering college (r = -.11), were not a member of a revenue sport (r = .37), and earned a considerable amount of playing time (r = .15). Building on the relative strengths of those relationships, first-year GPA can be predicted by knowing gender (B = .16), race (B = -.26), standardized test scores (B = .03), high school GPA (B = .41), high school rank (B < -.01), and high school size (B < .01). The retention of student-athletes into their second year of college produced a slightly different set of relationships. Student-athletes were more likely to be retained if they were Caucasian (r = .16), attended college close to their hometown (r = .09), scored well on standardized tests (r = -.11), had a respectable high school GPA (r = -.14), were ranked high in their graduating high school class (r = .12), were not a member of a revenue sport (r = -.09), and earned a considerable amount of playing time (r = -.17). Predicting retention is possible with information about race (B = 1.09), distance from hometown (B = .4), type of sport (B = .82), and amount of playing time (B = -.70). / Department of Educational Leadership

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 210-236). / Microfiche. / ix, 236 leaves, bound 29 cm