Effects of High School Athletic Participation on the Educational Aspirations of Male Student-Athletes: Does Race Matter?
Abstract
With 55.5% of the nation’s high school students participating in athletics, it is
valuable for educators to understand how athletics affect students’ educational aspirations.
Educational aspirations are the strong desires to further one’s education after high
school, and are a strong predictor for educational attainment.
Three separate analyses contributed to the findings, specific to males. 1. Data from
the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 revealed a statistically significant correlation
between interscholastic athletic participation and students’ educational aspirations.
2. Interviews with six soccer and basketball coaches at middle-sized high schools
in Durham, North Carolina provided a more in-depth look at the role of coaches and
demonstrated that every coach implements measures to encourage his players’ educational
success. 3. Questionnaires from 94 student-athletes indicated that, of those surveyed,
92% planned to obtain a college or postgraduate degree, showing very high educational
aspirations. Also, 90% of the student-athletes considered or planned to play their
sport in college, with higher percentages of blacks and Hispanics desiring this as
compared to whites.
Race and social mobility also played important factors in the findings. Social mobility
is when an individual moves from one socio-economic level to another, providing the
individual with increased opportunities for further advancement in society. A larger
percentage of white student-athletes prioritized their academics while a larger percentage
of black and Hispanic student-athletes prioritized their athletics. Social mobility
seemed to have a strong correlation with the minority students’ priorities and plans
to play their sport in college.
Type
Honors thesisDepartment
Public Policy StudiesPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/6599Citation
Rogers, Sarah (2013). Effects of High School Athletic Participation on the Educational Aspirations of Male
Student-Athletes: Does Race Matter?. Honors thesis, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/6599.Collections
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