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Levels of athletic identity among elite Australian athletes: The impact of gender, age, and career status
Abstract   Peer reviewed

Levels of athletic identity among elite Australian athletes: The impact of gender, age, and career status

Lisa Fraser, G Fogarty and M Albion
Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, Vol.12(Supplement 1), pp.S79-S80
asics Conference of Science and Medicine in Sport, 2008 (Hamilton Island, Australia, 16-Oct-2008–18-Oct-2008)
2009
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2008.12.192
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2008.12.192View
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Abstract

Human Movement and Sports Science identity athletes
Introduction: One dimension of self-identity that has received much attention in the psychological literature is athletic identity. The large amount of interest in this concept is unsurprising due to the rising level of professionalism in sport over the past two decades, especially in Australia. The Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS) is a popular tool used to assess this construct, comprising ten statements encompassing the strength and exclusivity of identification with the athletic role. The current study aimed to assess differences in levels of athletic identity among elite Australian athletes as a result of gender, age, and career status. Method: Principal axis factoring extracted three interpretable factors from the AIMS responses of 426 elite athletes (251 females) on sporting scholarships linked with the Australian Institute of Sport. These factors were identified as social identity, the degree to which individuals perceive themselves as occupying the athletic role, exclusivity, the degree to which individuals' self-worth relies on the athletic role, and negative affectivity, the degree to which individuals react negatively when unable to participate in sport. These factors were consistent with those labelled by past research. Results/Discussion: Group differences were found in relation to gender, age, and career status. Significant differences were found with male athletes showing higher levels on the total AIMS than females, but not on negative affectivity. Older athletes showed decreased levels of athletic identity compared to younger athletes, and retired athletes showed low levels of exclusivity. Implications of these findings addressing the needs of elite athletes will be discussed. [Presented at the asics Conference of science and medicine in sport 2008]

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