Parental involvement in the lives of intercollegiate athletes

Abstract

The topic of parental involvement in the lives of their children, and the concept of over-involved parents has been growing as an area of research. The current study aims to fill this gap by examining parental involvement in the context of intercollegiate athletics. Specifically, a qualitative case-study method was utilized to examine parents' involvement in the academic and athletic lives of their studentathletes, including a focus on the concept of over-involvement in relationship to this population. Participants included eight NCAA Division I intercollegiate studentathletes (five male and three female) and the five academic advisors for athletics that worked with them. Participants completed two interviews and one journal, and all of the data was analyzed utilizing thematic analysis. The five themes that emerged were types of involvement, increasing involvement, over-involvement, outcomes of overinvolvement, and the fine line between healthy involvement and over-involvement. The present study offers insight into how student-athletes and academic advisors perceive parental involvement. This knowledge can be used by practitioners to improve how they communicate with parents and student-athletes. Also, researchers can employ this information to improve the overall understanding of parental involvement in regard to athletes. tudent-athletes make up a unique population because their experience is unlike the average college student experience given of the athletic demands that are placed upon them (Gayles, 2009;Jolly, 2008). In addition, these studentathletes face conflicting roles of being a student and an athlete (Comeaux, 2010). S

Parental Involvement Among Collegiate Student-Athletes: An Analysis Across NCAA Divisions

“…The cell phone is preferred because it enables direct and rapid contact despite geographic distance and because it provides an avenue to share experiences and garner support without infringing upon emerging adults' independence (e.g., Chen & Katz, 2009). Research with SAs has yielded similar findings (e.g., Parietti et al, 2017). About 40% of Dorsch and colleagues' (2016a) sample of Division I SAs reported texting with parents daily and about one-third chatted on the phone a few times a week.…”

“…For instance, a broad, descriptive report by the NCAA found 81% of SAs across divisions said their family was "appropriately involved" in their academics and about 65% of SAs "often" or "sometimes" asked family to assist with academic decisions (NCAA, 2017b). Interviews with SAs have also revealed that parents help ease the stress associated with poor academic performance (Cosh & Tully, 2015) and serve as consultants for academic and career plans (Parietti et al, 2017). Notably, Dorsch et al (2016a) found academic engagement positively predicted SAs' academic self-efficacy and athletic satisfaction and negatively predicted emotional and functional independence, reiterating the import of appropriate academic engagement.…”

“…Interviews with SAs have also revealed that parental support facilitates success with integrating sport and school responsibilities (Cosh & Tully, 2015). Importantly, stakeholders at the Division I level, including athletic administrators, coaches, and academic advisors, have stated that a fine line exists between providing appropriate support and too much support (Dorsch et al, 2016b;Parietti et al, 2017). These stakeholders characterized appropriate support as "fostering student-athletes' independence, facilitating the mission of the coaching staff and team, and being present to advocate for the student-athlete when necessary" (Dorsch et al, 2016b, p. 133), and too much support as behaviors that are intrusive and indulgent (e.g., imposing upon coaches' roles and decisions, contacting academic advisors about the SAs' problems with class schedules).…”

“…Fourth, SAs report their parents are interested and actively engaged in their sport careers during college. For instance, Dorsch et al (2016a) found that, on average, Division I SAs "agreed" their parents were athletically engaged, and Parietti et al (2017) found all Division I SAs interviewed identified their parents as a key part of their athletic experiences and decisions. Likewise, a broad, descriptive report by the NCAA found that 79% of SAs across divisions said their family was "appropriately involved" in their athletics, with 17% reporting overinvolvement and 5% reporting underinvolvement.…”

“…Meeting this critical need for parent programming within intercollegiate sport is, however, challenged by the limited breadth of the current empirical literature on this topic (e.g., Dorsch et al, 2016aDorsch et al, , 2016bParietti, Sutherland, & Pastore, 2017). Moreover, the samples of this research have been exclusively Division I SAs, who only represent 32% of all NCAA SAs (NCAA, 2018), which reduces the generalizability of this work.…”