Impact of College Athletics Involvement on African American Male Student-Athletes’ Career Development
Black Males and Intercollegiate Athletics: An Exploration of Problems and Solutions
ISBN: 978-1-78441-394-1, eISBN: 978-1-78441-393-4
Publication date: 3 June 2015
Abstract
Intercollegiate athletics are a major investment of time for student-athletes who must balance their academic and athletic commitments. For African American males, sports participation may have adverse effects on both their educational outcomes and career development. According to the extant research base, the low academic achievement and high aspirations toward professional athletic careers for many African American males are due to a variety of factors including socialization toward athletics by family, community members, and the media. We posit that African American male student-athletes may prematurely settle on an athletic identity with limited or no exploration to other possible identities, namely career identities. Using an adaptation of Dawkins, Braddock II, and Celaya’s (2009) model of academic engagement, we categorize African American male student-athletes into three persona types; maintenance, incentive, and integrative. Maintenance and incentive persona types value academics as a necessary step toward an athletic career, whereas integrative persona type understands that academics and athletics can benefit a comprehensive career development.
Keywords
Citation
Graham, D.L., Pryor, A.L. and Gray, M. (2015), "Impact of College Athletics Involvement on African American Male Student-Athletes’ Career Development", Black Males and Intercollegiate Athletics: An Exploration of Problems and Solutions (Diversity in Higher Education, Vol. 16), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 261-284. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-364420140000016013
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015 Emerald Group Publishing Limited