Term of Award

Spring 2023

Degree Name

Master of Science, Kinesiology - Athletic Training Concentration

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (open access)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Health Sciences and Kinesiology

Committee Chair

Tamerah Hunt

Committee Member 1

Jody Langdon

Committee Member 2

Amy Rundio

Abstract

Background: Athletic identity is the extent to which one identifies with the athlete role, but we do not know what that looks like in club sports and its effect on concussion reporting intention. The athletic identity of club sport athletes and their intention to report concussive injuries is limited and needs further research. Purpose: Describe athletic identity in club sport athletes and determine its influence on concussion reporting in club sport participants. Methods: A convenience sample of 149 (age 18-28 (M= 19.95±1.81) years old) club sport athletes at Georgia Southern University completed the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS) and Intention to Report Subscale (Theory of Planned Behavior Scale) during the 2022-2023 calendar year. Scores from the AIMS and Intention to Report Subscale served as dependent variables. Correlation analyses utilizing Pearson and Spearman’s Rho correlations examined the relationship between age, sex, sport, level of involvement, previous history of concussions, previous history of concussion education, athletic identity, and intention to report. Results: Participants averaged 11.16 years (SD = 5.34) of sport involvement with lacrosse (20.1%), men’s volleyball (12.5%), dance (11.1%), women’s volleyball (9.0%), cheer (7.6%), and quidditch (6.9%) providing the most responses. The average AIMs score for the entire sample was relatively moderate (M= 35.24± 7.77). The total number of years that athletes participated in sports was significantly associated with athletic identity (r= .387, p < 0.001). Age was negatively associated with athletic identity (r= -0.23, p= 0.006). A moderate-high intent to report (M= 16.82±4.60) concussion was obtained. No correlations existed between athletic identity, age, sex, club sport, years in sport, and intention to report a concussion in club sport athletes. Conclusions: Club sport athletes do have an established athletic identity which could be impacted by years of participation in sport and age. No relationship existed between athletic identity and intention to report a concussion; however, the influence of identity playing a role in concussion reporting intention in club sport athletes should not be discounted because of the moderate-high intention to report found in this study.

OCLC Number

1408769062

Research Data and Supplementary Material

No

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