First Advisor

Gerald D. Guthrie

Term of Graduation

Fall 1993

Date of Publication

8-31-1993

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.) in Psychology

Department

Psychology

Language

English

Subjects

Sports -- Psychological aspects, Professional sports

DOI

10.15760/etd.5434

Physical Description

1 online resource resource (ii, v, 47 pages)

Abstract

This study examined the applicability of the Sport Commitment Model for a group of elite, professional athletes. The model proposes that an athlete's commitment will increase as sport enjoyment, personal investments, social constraints, and involvement opportunities increase and will decrease with an increase in involvement opportunities. The influence of identification as an athlete, a determinant of commitment not included in the original model, was also examined. One hundred and eighty three professional football players from the Canadian Football League (CFL) (n = 121) and National Football League (NFL) (n = 69) participated in the study. Each subject completed a modified version of the original questionnaire developed to test the constructs in the Sport Commitment Model (Scanlan, Simons, Carpenter, Schmidt, & Keeler, 1993) during a team meeting. Internal consistency reliabilities for the final items in all seven scales were acceptable. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated marginal overall fit (AGFI = 0.757) demonstrating good construct validity and discriminant validity for each scale. Zero-order correlations between commitment and its predictor constructs were significant and in the hypothesized direction for all predictor constructs except social constraints. The correlation between commitment and social constraints was negative and nonsignificant. The simultaneous regression analysis results found the predictor constructs accounted for 38% of the variance in commitment. Identification uniquely accounted for the most variance followed by enjoyment, involvement alternatives, and involvement opportunities. Only personal investments and social constraints did not contribute a significant amount of unique variance to sport commitment. The importance and meaning of the relationships between commitment and its determinants for professional athletes are discussed, as well as directions for future research.

Rights

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Comments

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Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/20094

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