While we know much about the psychology of sport, little gets translated onto the playing field. Typically, there is only consultation when a problem arises or when performance falls short. The purpose of this study was mainly exploratory in order to gather data on three factors of mental health, find any associations between those factors, and to predict any risk factors using demographic variables. Three validated measurement tools were used to measure burnout (Athlete Burnout Questionnaire; Raedeke & Smith, 2004), depression (Beck Depression Inventory-II; Beck et al., 1996), and transition readiness (British Athletes Lifestyle Assessment Needs in Career and Education; Lavallee & Wylleman, 1999). The three measures (ABQ, BDI, and BALANCE) were found to be positively associated based on non-parametric correlation analyses. Medium to large effect sizes were found between each pair, indicating that there are possibly shared factors between depression, burnout, and transition risk. Multiple regression analyses indicated no significant demographic predictors of burnout, depression, or transition readiness. The results of this study show that most student-athletes in this sample are at mild risk for burnout, depression, and transition issues. Mental health screenings, like this one, can provide valuable information to athletic administrations and help avoid larger issues in the future.

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The purpose of the study was to provide an assessment of the involvement of Mississippi's community and junior colleges in intercollegiate athletics during the academic year 2007–2008. These data could assist community and junior college presidents, vice presidents residing over athletics, athletic directors, and other policy makers in their decision-making processes concerning intercollegiate athletics. They could compare their institution with other institutions in the state. This study included the entire population of Mississippi's public community and junior colleges that offered intercollegiate athletics. Frequencies and percentages were utilized by the researcher to report the information. Data were collected to provide an overview of intercollegiate athletics at Mississippi's public community and junior colleges. Information included location, student participation, amount of athletically related student aid, teams sponsored, athletic revenues and expenses, and staffing requirements including salaries.

Intercollegiate athletics are a prominent feature of American higher education. They have been characterized as the “front door” to the university due to their unique ability to draw alumni and other supporters to campus. It is often supposed that the exposure from high-profile athletics produces a number of indirect benefits including greater institutional prestige. Such exposure comes at a cost, however, as most Division I athletics programs are not financially self-sufficient and receive institutional subsidies to balance their budgets. At present, it is unclear how institutions budget for athletics subsidies or whether the recent increases in subsidies have impacted the overall financial picture of colleges and universities. Prior research has shown that athletics subsidies and student tuition and fees are not significantly correlated for public Division I institutions, which suggests the possibility that institutions have reallocated funds from other core areas to athletics. In this dissertation, the relationship between athletics subsidies and one of the most important core areas of the university – education and related activities – was examined. This relationship was investigated using fixed-effects structural equation models to analyze a panel dataset of public Division I institutions. It was found that total athletics subsidies (school funds and student fees) per student and education and related spending per student were positively correlated. This suggests that rather than decrease educational spending, institutions that increase total athletics subsidies have simultaneously increased their educational expenditures. However, in the analyses involving the more restrictive definition of athletics subsidies, it was shown that athletics subsidies from school funds was not correlated with educational spending. The results also provided some evidence that differences in the relationship between athletics subsidies and educational spending exist according to Carnegie classification and level of athletics competition. The findings from this study have a number of implications for higher education policy and future research. The absence of a negative relationship between athletics subsidies and educational spending suggests that athletics subsidies are not associated with decreases in educational spending that could ultimately harm the quality of education provided by colleges and universities. Furthermore, the existence of a positive correlation between athletics subsidies and educational spending and the fact that core revenues were controlled for in the models suggest the possibility that institutions have redirected funds from other areas to support education and athletics.

ABSTRACT TRANSFORMATIONAL AND TRANSACTIONAL LEADERSHIP CHARACTERISTICS OF INTERCOLLAGIATE ATHLETES AND NON-ATHLETES M.S.Physical Education and Sports Supervisor: Assoc.Prof.Dr.Settar KO&Ccedil / AK June 2010, 64 Pages The main purpose of this study was to examine the transformational and transactional leadership characteristics of intercollegiate athletes and non athletes. The second purpose was to compare transformational and transactional leadership characteristics in athletes and non-athletes. In this study, 152 subjects were selected from seven different universities. Data was collected through Turkish version of Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) - Leader Form (Form 5X-Short). Quantitative statistical analyses using SPSS confirmed the study&#039 / s first and second hypothesis through and independent samples t-test that the intercollegiate athletes scored statistically higher on the MLQ (Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire) 5X-Short than the non-athlete university students. MLQ 5X-Short scores were subjected to t-test using the athlete2s gender, sport activity, team membership, weekly exercise days, exercise in yearly based time. The test variables were transformational and transactional leadership behaviors and subscales of them, the grouping variables were intercollegiate athletes and non-athletes. Two out of three Leadership behaviors were statistically significant when comparing intercollegiate athletes and non athletes.

Thesis advisor: Philip G. Altbach / This qualitative case study examines the importance of men's intercollegiate athletics for alumni giving at Boston College for a 10-year period, based on the perceptions of 21 Boston College administrators and alumni. This study explores how athletics at Boston College engages alumni in ways that may eventually lead to their financial support of the institution. The findings reveal that study participants perceive football and men's basketball as a major source of engagement for the University's alumni that outrank other alumni activities in terms of reconnecting graduates with the institution. Further, participants support the existence of a relationship between men's intercollegiate athletics and general alumni giving at Boston College, although at varying levels of impact. The findings from this study suggest that engagement with athletic activities and events may serve as the conduit to general alumni giving that supports a host of programs and initiatives that aid the institution in its position as a national research university. Major findings focus on five areas regarding the relationship between men's intercollegiate athletics and general alumni giving at Boston College: the importance of general alumni giving, why alumni give, the importance of men's intercollegiate athletics, what engages alumni, and the influence of men's intercollegiate athletics on general alumni giving. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Thesis advisor: Stephanie Greene / Thesis advisor: Richard McGowan / The competition among American colleges and universities for top students is now more fierce than ever. As the population of U.S. high school seniors has grown in recent years and the Common Application has facilitated the college application process, American institutions of higher education have scrambled to find new ways to encourage prospective students to apply and compel admitted students to matriculate. Among other factors that influence prospective students’ decisions during the college search and selection process, the existence of intercollegiate athletic programs may have a significant impact on students’ decisions to apply to or enroll at a particular university. However, many high-ranking officials within the realm of higher education seem to support the notion that athletics detract from academic prestige. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to test these two claims. An analysis of the data from U.S. News and World Report’s rankings of America’s Best National Universities for the past five years revealed that athletics did not detract from academic prestige, as there was no relationship discovered between existence of big-time intercollegiate athletic programs at an institution and that institution’s peer assessment score. A survey of 173 undergraduate students at Boston College supported the claim that the existence of intercollegiate athletic programs significantly impacted students’ decisions to apply to or enroll at Boston College. Furthermore, these survey results suggested that application numbers and yield at Boston College would decline if its big-time intercollegiate athletic programs were eliminated. / Thesis (BS) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

This study examined the effects of athletic participation in intercollegiate athletics on leadership development using a multi-institutional, longitudinal sample of students at four year colleges and universities. Using Astin's Input, Environment, Outcomes model (1991), I examined whether athletic participation influenced leadership development using the Socially Responsible Leadership Scale (SRLS) and its eight independent subscales while controlling for students' background characteristics and institutional characteristics. Using pre-test and post-test data from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education (WNS), the findings suggest that participation in certain types of athletics can inhibit leadership growth. This study contributes to the literature by breaking utilizing a longitudinal model, study athletes compared to non-athletes and breaking down athletes into categories based upon team and individual sports as well as by the level of contact in their respective sports. Finally, this study has implications for higher education policy, including practical applications for those involved in undergraduate education including coaches, administrators, faculty, staff, and students.

This study examined the relationship between intercollegiate participation and persistence in college. In addition, it explored the different factors that influenced student athletes' persistence patterns as compared to non-student athletes at residential liberal arts schools. Using data from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education (WNS), I first examined if student athletes were more likely to persist while controlling for background characteristics. Next, using Braxton's revised theory of student departure as a theoretical lens, I examined how eight factors (ability to pay, commitment of the institution to student welfare, communal potential, institutional integrity, proactive social adjustment, psychosocial engagement, social integration, and subsequent college commitment) influenced persistence in student athletes as compared to non-student athletes while controlling for students' backgrounds. The findings suggest that student athletes are more likely to persist. In addition, while Black students were more likely to persist than non-Black students as a whole, Black student athlete were less likely to persist than Black non-student athletes. Also, while some factors influenced student athletes and non-student athlete persistence patterns differently, no consistent pattern emerged. This study contributes to Braxton's model by suggesting classroom achievement, as measured by GPA, should be considered for inclusion in the model. Finally, this study has implications for administrators, especially those considering the use of athletics as an enrollment strategy.

There has been a great deal of research conducted which examines the development of student-athletes on college campuses. However, there has been limited investigation into how the institutional logics (i.e. the belief structures and related practices) within an athletic department may affect the manner in which athletic administrators and coaches perceive and approach the development of their student-athletes. The purpose of this study was to understand the institutional logics of an NCAA Division II athletic department and how those logics may affect student-athletes. In order to address the purpose and research questions of this study, I conducted a qualitative case study at a private university where I interviewed thirteen members of the university including eight members of the athletic department and five university faculty members and administrators. Additional data were obtained through various documents such as the university's mission statement and the NCAA Division II Handbook. It was found that the athletic department operates under certain institutional logics wherein they are expected to foster student-athlete development. These include the academic, physical, social, and spiritual aspects of their development. Additionally, the athletic department is expected to enhance the university by building community and promoting the mission and vision of the university. Finally, winning athletic competitions is an important expectation of members of the athletic department. Further exploration of the data reveals that certain aspects of these logics may conflict. Primarily, the participants acknowledged that they were expected to foster the development of their athletes in other aspects beyond athletics; yet their primary job performance evaluations were based on wins and losses. Additionally, the logic of enhancing the university may also contend with the academic development of the student-athletes. This is significant because research has suggested that conflicting institutional logics within an organization may lead to confusion as to which logics are paramount. Though the specific findings of this research may be contextually bound, this provides insight into how the institutional logics of an organization may influence the actions of its members and key stakeholders who are influenced by the processes within that organization.