Introduction: The possession of a strong and exclusive athletic identity has been suggested as playing a role in hindering the development of an individual`s multidimensional self-identity. This two-part study aimed to investigate the self-identity characteristics possessed by Australian elite athletes, including athletic identity, and the impact that age and gender have upon the endorsement of multiple dimensions of their self-identity. Within the general population, clear gender differences have been found in relation to self-concept. Methods: The SDQ III-summary items (Marsh & O`Neill, 1984) and the AIMS (Brewer et al., 1993) were administered to measure self-identity characteristics and athletic identity respectively. In the first part of the study, a total of 917 athletes (476 females) on sporting scholarships linked with the Australian Institute of Sport were surveyed in relation to these constructs. The second part of the study employed crossvalidation techniques to confirm the findings of part one using a subsequent data set (N = 310; 172 females). Results: Results indicated that both samples endorsed the same self-identity characteristics as being accurate representations of who they feel that they are as people, as well as those characteristics that they consider to be important to their self-view. Correlation analyses between AIMS and SDQ III scores indicated significant positive relationships between athletic identity and the importance placed upon sporting ability for both samples. However, no relationships were found between the AIMS and other SDQ III items. Athletic identity levels were shown to decrease significantly with age. Male athletes in both studies were shown to view themselves as having more physical ability, as being more attractive, and more emotionally stable than their female counterparts. Discussion: Athletes with high levels of athletic identity tend to place a high value on sporting ability, otherwise elite athletes tend to exhibit a common identity profile that operated largely independently of the extent to which they identified with the athlete role. Results: suggest that age but not gender plays a role in determining athletic identity levels in the Australian elite athlete population. In relation to self-identity, gender differences in self-concept found within the general population were found to generalise across to elite athlete populations.
© Copyright 2014 19th Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS), Amsterdam, 2. - 5. July 2014. Veröffentlicht von VU University Amsterdam. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.