The purpose of this study was to develop a Japanese version of the Academic Athletic Identity Scale (AAIS-J) , originally developed by Yukhymenko-Lescroart (2014) and to examine the relationship between academic athletic identity and grade point average (GPA). The participants were 251 student athletes who compete at the national collegiate level (male:155, female:96, age: M=20.33, SD=1.18). The Academic Athletic Identity Scale (AAIS) (Yukhymenko-Lescroart, 2014) was translated into Japanese using the back-translation method, and the reliability and validity of the AAIS-J were examined. The results indicated the reliability (internal consistency) and validity (construct validity, criterion-related validity) of the AA-IS-J and illustrated the scale's usefulness. In addition, the result of examining the relationship between academic athletic identity and GPA showed that student athletes who have a higher academic identity indicated higher GPA, and higher athletic identity was also positively associated with GPA. These results indicated both similar and different results of previous studies about the relationship between student athlete identity and GPA, thus, this study provided new knowledge about Japanese student athletes. In conclusion, this study confirmed the reliability, validity and usefulness of the AAIS-J.

The purpose of this study was to construct providing and receiving social support scales for sports teams. The participants were 563 student athletes （male：395, female：168） . First, social support items were selected from previous studies by sports psychologists, and these items were modified to assess receiving and providing support contexts. Exploratory factor analysis （EFA） was conducted to analyze both providing and receiving support items, and 1 factor （6 items） was extracted in both the providing and receiving scales. In addition, reliability and factorial validity were confirmed by Cronbach's alpha and confirmatory factor analyses （CFA） in both scales. Construct validity was also confirmed in this study. The results suggested that the Providing and Receiving Social Support Scales for Sports Teams have sufficient validity and reliability. Therefore, the constructed scales were judged to be suitable for measuring the social support reciprocity in sports team and examining the relationships of athletes in further studies.

Abstract:The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between social support and mental health problems among male and female intercollegiate student-athletes. Participants were 204 American studentathletes (105 males, 99 females) recruited from the NCAA colleges and universities. Participants were 20.24 (SD = ±1.24) years old, and had a mean of 12.94 (SD = ±4.27) years of experience in sports. Results indicated that for female student-athletes, social support provided to and received from teammates were negatively correlated with both depression and sports helplessness, but for male student-athletes, no significant relationships were found. The results suggest that the relationship between teammate social support and mental health problems in intercollegiate student-athletes is gender-specific.

The purpose of this study was to examine the formation model of sports commitment in its relation to sports participation and persistency by investigating the dynamics of relationships between social supports and athletic identity, athletic identity and sports commitment, and social supports and sports commitment. The participants were 250 collegiate athletes （males : 169 females : 81） . They completed questionnaires （Social Support Scale for Sports, Athletic Identity Measurement Scale, Sports Commitment Scale） . In examining the relationships between sports commitment, athletic identity and social supports by regression analysis, it was found that there were significant relationships between sports commitment and athletic identity, and athletic identity and social supports. On the other hand, there was no significance between sports commitment and social supports. Therefore, this study hypothesized the original theoretical model that social supports described the formation of athletic identity and athletic identity was the predictor variable for formation of sports commitment. The results of the Structural Equation Model （SEM） demonstrated goodness of fit and validity of the original formation model of sports commitment. The results of this study indicated that the formation process of sports commitment effects competitive sports participation and persistency. In addition, this study showed significant differences in the formation process for sports commitment between female and male collegiate athletes.

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