Career development and preparedness among college student athletes

The pressure to perform has never been greater for college student athletes. The added exposure from social media affords student athletes a celebrity status and millions of dollars in revenue for their universities as well as an increased pressure to perform (Dilley-Knoles, Burnett, & Peak, 2010; Sack, 1987; Sack, 2009; Simmons, Van Rheenen, & Covington, 1999; Upthegrove, Roscigno, & Zubrinsky Charles, 1999). Career development and preparedness among this population is very important because these students depend on the education they receive to prepare them for life after their sport (Wiechman & Williams, 1997). Many student athletes, however, leave their universities ill-prepared to navigate the real world (Burnett, 2010; Harris, 1994; Upthegrove et al., 1999; Burnett, 2010). Therefore, the present study sought to expand the literature on the factors that promote career development and preparedness among college student athletes. The relationship between career decision self-efficacy, athletic identity, and career-related parent and coach support were examined among Division I and Division II collegiate athletes. The 113 participants were conveniently sampled from five Midwestern universities, and results indicated that career-related parent and career-related coach support are predictive of higher career decision self-efficacy among the student athlete population. Although not statistically significant, results also showed a negative association between career decision self-efficacy and athletic identity, and male student athletes had higher Career Decision Self-efficacy (Betz, Klein, & Taylor, 1996) scores than their female counterparts.