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Might “early identity maturation” be a more inclusive concept than identity foreclosure? Identity and school alienation in adolescent student athletes and non-athletes

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Abstract

The present study examined identity development and school alienation in adolescent student athletes and non-athletes. 2422 adolescents participated in the study, comprised of student athletes (n = 1238, 51.1%) and non-athletes (n = 1184, 48.9%) considering stratified sampling method. In the data collection process, information form including demographic characteristics and sport participation parameters were used and three different scales were implemented as follows: Dimensions of Identity Development, Athletic Identity, and Student Alienation. Data analysis included independent t-test, hierarchical and k-means cluster analysis, chi-square test, and multiple regression analysis. While findings partially supported higher commitment processes with small effect sizes in student athletes, multi-dimensional results were available on different exploration dimensions. Student athletes showed higher distribution in more mature identity statuses (e.g. achievement, foreclosure) while non-athletes distributed more in less mature status (e.g. carefree diffusion, diffused diffusion). Chi-square test results showed that there was a significant difference in distribution of identity statuses with moderate effects size between student athletes and non-athletes. In addition, non-athletes showed more unfavourable tendencies in school alienation and weakness with small effect sizes. On the other hand, it was seen that commitment making was a significant predictor of school alienation in student athletes. Besides, increase in sport participation parameters of student athletes affect school alienation. As a result, identity foreclosure in student athletes are partially supported in the present study while results indicate multi-dimensionality and “early identity maturation” profile in student athletes. In this regard, it is suggested that single-directional evaluations and over-generalizations should be avoided while evaluating student athletes’ psycho-social development.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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  1. Faculty of Sport Sciences, Department of Physical Education and Sport, Ege University, 35040, İzmir, Turkey

    Berkcan Boz & Olcay Kiremitci

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  1. Berkcan Boz
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Correspondence to Berkcan Boz.

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Ethical Approval

Permission to use the scales was granted from the relevant authors via email. Ethical permission was granted by Ege University’s Social Sciences, Scientific Research, and Publication Ethics Committee (Protocol No. 111). Permission for the research activities implemented in the educational institutions was granted by Izmir Provincial Directorate of National Education Ministry (Approval No. 619101). The participants were informed of the study, consent forms, instructions, and ethics.

Conflict of Interest and Statement

Authors do not report conflict of interest. This study was supported and funded by Ege University Scientific Research Projects Coordination (Project ID: 20583, Project Code: SYL-2019-20,583). The study is based on the Master’s thesis of the first author. The second author supervised the Master’s thesis. This study was presented at AIESEP 2021 Scientific Conference as oral presentation.

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Boz, B., Kiremitci, O. Might “early identity maturation” be a more inclusive concept than identity foreclosure? Identity and school alienation in adolescent student athletes and non-athletes. Curr Psychol 42, 9780–9794 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02256-8

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