Race, sex, and perceptions of student-athletes’ career options

Abstract

In this study, peoples' perceptions of student-athletes were examined to better understand how the intersection of sex and race of student-athletes impacts what jobs people think are appropriate for them. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two card-sorting conditions, forced-choice or free-choice. In the forced-choice condition, participants were asked to sort 72 job titles evenly into the four categories of: Black Female Student-Athlete, Black Male Student-Athlete, White Female Student-Athlete. As such, the participants had to rely on limited information to sort 18 jobs titles into each of the four student-athlete categories. In the free-choice condition, participants were also asked to sort job titles into the four student-athlete categories, but without constraints such as having an equal number in each. Participants were then randomly assigned to write a brief description about one of the four student-athlete groups. Chi-Square and repeated measures ANOVA analyses revealed that participants did make meaningful distinctions between the groups when assigning job titles, with differences found in: Sex Traditionality, Prestige Scores, and Holland Type Scores of job titles assigned to each group. It was also determined that the condition, forced-choice or free-choice, did lead to significant differences in participants' job title assignment to the four categories. Written responses revealed that participants utilized certain adjectives in describing all the student-athlete groups such as: Strong, hardworking, and athletic. There were certain adjectives that were uniquely assigned to certain groups however such as: Perseverant and independent for Black Female Student-Athletes. The information from this study may be useful in examining the role race and sex plays in peoples' differing perceptions of student-athletes. CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Student-athletes are a unique population on college campuses in that they are tasked with balancing student and athlete responsibilities. There were 504,619 studentathletes within the NCAA's three divisions in 2020, compared to around 19,240,000 nonathlete students (NCAA, 2021; U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2021). According to the National Center for Education Statistics, college enrollment numbers have seen a consistent rise, with a 58% increase from 1983 to 2020.According to the NCAA, student-athlete numbers have also gone up during this same time period, with a 118% increase in the number of student-athletes overall, a 69% increase in the number of male student-athletes, and a 246% increase in the number of female student-athletes. The significant increase in the number of female student-athletes can be attributed to a number of policy and procedural changes, most notably Title IX. According to the U.S. Department of Education, "Title IX states: No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program...