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Motivation toward dual career of Italian student-athletes enrolled in different university paths

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Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate motivations for the dual career of Italian student-athletes attending different university courses. For this purpose, the Italian Harmonized version of the Student-athletes’ Motivation toward Sports and Academics Questionnaire (SAMSAQ-IT/A) was administered to 760 Italian student-athletes. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were applied to test the factor structure and the reliability of the SAMSAQ-IT/A, respectively. Furthermore, the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) assessed the fit of the model. A multivariate approach was applied to verify subgroups effects (P ≤ 0.05) in relation to gender (i.e., female, male), competition level (i.e., elite, sub-elite), type of sport (i.e., individual sport, team sport, disciplines performed both as individual and team), educational area (i.e., economical/law, humanistic, mathematics/engineering, medical, movement/sport sciences), and year of attendance (i.e., Bachelor 1st, 2nd, 3rd year, Master degree 1st and 2nd year, off course). EFA highlighted a three-factor model (i.e., Sport Motivation, SM; Academic Motivation, AM; Dual Career Motivation, CM) with acceptable reliability estimates (SM = 0.93; AM = 0.85; CM = 0.90) and good CFA indexes. Furthermore, differences between subgroups were found for gender (SM, P = 0.02; AM, P = 0.007), type of sport (AM, P = 0.039), competition level (SM, P < 0.001; CM, P = 0.004), educational area (SM, P = 0.003; AM, P = 0.001; CM, P < 0.001), and year of attendance (AM, P = 0.005; CM, P = 0.002). In conclusion, SAMSAQ-IT/A demonstrated to be a useful tool and results showed that Italian student-athletes’ motivation for dual career has to be specifically investigate according to gender, age, competition level, type of sport, educational area, and year of attendance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Motor Science Research Center, School of Exercise and Sport Sciences (SUISM), Department of Medical Sciences, University of Torino, Piazza Bernini, 12, 10142, Turin, Italy

    Corrado Lupo, Luisa Pizzigalli & Alberto Rainoldi

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Torino, Turin, Italy

    Cristina Onesta Mosso

  3. Division of Human Movement and Sport Sciences, Department of Movement, Human and Health Sciences, University of Rome Foro Italico, Rome, Italy

    Flavia Guidotti

  4. Department of Medical Sciences, University of Torino, Turin, Italy

    Giovanni Cugliari

Authors
  1. Corrado Lupo
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  2. Cristina Onesta Mosso
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  3. Flavia Guidotti
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  4. Giovanni Cugliari
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  5. Luisa Pizzigalli
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  6. Alberto Rainoldi
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Correspondence to Corrado Lupo.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Lupo, C., Mosso, C.O., Guidotti, F. et al. Motivation toward dual career of Italian student-athletes enrolled in different university paths. Sport Sci Health 13, 485–494 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-016-0327-4

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