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Recently, collegiate athletes have used their platform to promote positive social change. Some possibilities for the increase of activism is athletes’ perceptions of societal issues and support from key social agents. However, these perceptions have been largely unexplored. The current study aimed to address those gaps by investigating collegiate athletes’ perceptions and investigating if various demographic characteristics influence the likelihood of activism engagement. Participants (n = 4,473) completed self-report scales on social justice causes and perceived support. For this sample, athletes who identified as male, Black, and More than One Race engaged in activism at a higher rate than expected and a majority of participants viewed all social issues as social justice causes. In terms of support, athletes viewed higher levels of general support than instrumental support and approval for engaging in activism and rated parents, friends, and teammates as most supportive in all three support categories. Activists, compared to non-activists, were more likely to view social issues as social justice related and rated most social agents as more approving of their own activism. Findings indicate that perceptions of social issues and support from social agents, especially non-sport social agents, might be one reason for collegiate athletes’ participation in activism.

The last several years have been met with increased instances of athlete activism among college athletes. Little research, though, has investigated athlete activism among white college athletes. The present study adopted an interpretive-constructivist approach to conduct semistructured interviews with 12 white college athletes engaging in racial justice activism. Interviews aimed to develop a heightened understanding of the challenges and supports they experienced in their activism. White college athletes cited several challenges to and supports for engaging in racial justice activism. Challenges included resource deficits (e.g., lack of support), intrapersonal concerns (e.g., lack of confidence), and other external threats (e.g., difficulty balancing social justice with preexisting relationships with loved ones). Supports included individual-level support (e.g., advice from others) and institutional-level support (e.g., resources from university administrators). Findings show participants experienced more challenges than supports. Further, some challenges are unique to white athletes including struggles in engaging in racial justice activism with ingroup members (i.e., other white people). Meanwhile, support from universities, mentors, and family members was important to encouraging racial justice activism among the participants. Higher education administrators, sport psychology consultants, and other sport leaders can use this information to empower white college athletes to navigate the challenges associated with engaging in racial justice activism.

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