A LOGISTICS REGRESSION ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EXPLICIT STIGMAS, OVER-CONFORMITY TO SPORT ETHIC, AND ATHLETIC IDENTITY ON THE HELP-SEEKING BEHAVIORS OF INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETES

Author

Ryan James ReedFollow

Date of Award

5-1-2024

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Rehabilitation

First Advisor

Nichols, Jane

Second Advisor

Burnside, Randolph

Third Advisor

Flowers, Carl

Abstract

This study considers the nature of the relationship between explicit stigma, athletic identity, and over-conformity to sports ethics and their impact on intercollegiate athlete’s negotiation of medical treatment, which refers to help-seeking behavior. This study potentially offers stakeholders insight into a broader view of college athletes’ ability to make decisions on how they take care of their bodies and to create a healthier environment for players to seek help for their physical/mental/emotional health. Statistical analysis included a review of descriptive statistics and binary logistics regression to explore the relationships among the independent variables consisting of over-conformity to sports ethic, athletic identity, explicit stigma, gender, and race, and testing the hypothesis about the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable, help-seeking behaviors. The sample was drawn from the athletic departments of a Midwestern NCAA Division I Research Institution and a self-report design was used. Convenience sample of 607 collegiate athletes representing 15 athletic teams was identified. The call for the study was disseminated by email and the survey was completed by the xxxx participants on Qualtrics. SPSS (29.0.2, 2023). Four assessment tools (Conformity to Sport Ethic Scale, Athletic Identity Measurement Scale, and Attitude towards Seeking Professional Psychological Help Short) was done by the researcher. There are currently 498,165 collegiate student-athletes (278,998 male and 219,177 female), with an average of 452 total collegiate athletes per institution (258 male and 200 female) (NCAA, 2022). This collegiate student-athlete population is considered the “elite athlete” population, only consisting of 6% of the 8 million high school student-athletes that participate in the collegiate athlete population (NCAA, 2022). Because of the physical nature of sports, many of these athletes experience injuries resulting in temporary or chronic pain. (Amorose & Anderson-Butcher, 2007)The socialization process surrounding pain perception for athletes begins in early adolescence when young athletes learn that it is acceptable and even expected that they play through pain. and these behaviors may persist over the years (Stoddart et al., 2022). A sports culture influences these behaviors and can lead to health-damaging behaviors, including denial of injury, ignoring injury, and failure to seek medical or mental health treatment when needed. Health-damaging behaviors experienced by college athletes can lead to the need for psychological and rehabilitative services. Despite there being a clear need for help-seeking in college athletes, it has been reported that college athletes underutilize help-based services due to: lack of time, concerns around confidentiality and information being leaked to the public, fear of being misunderstood by health care providers, and some athletes not recognizing the need to seek help (Hilliard et al., 2022; López & Levy, 2013; Moore, 2017; Moreland et al., 2018). This study was constructed upon the hypothesis that factors including athletic identity, over-conformity to the sports ethics, and the experience of explicit stigma; influence athletes' help-seeking behaviors for physical or psychological issues.