Psychosocial identity and career control in college student-athletes

This study explored relations between career decision-making self-efficacy, career locus of control, identity foreclosure, and athletic identity among 189 collegiate student-athletes. Student-athletes were also surveyed regar ding the amount of time spent weekly participating in their sport and their expectations for professional sport careers. Results indicated that hours of sport participation, identity foreclosure, and career locus of control i nversely related to career decision-making self-efficacy. These findings su ggest that extensive hours in sport participation, failure to explore alter native roles, and the belief that one's career outcomes are unaffected by o ne's actions are associated with lower self-efficacy for career decision-ma king tasks. In addition, student-athletes reported spending anywhere from 2 0 to 30 or more hours per week participating in their sport, yet few expres sed an expectation to advance to the professional rank. (C) 2000 Academic P ress.