Abstract
Student-athletes were studied over 4 years at a highly selective liberal arts college and an Ivy League university. Students spending 10 or more hours per week in athletic activities had lower entering academic credentials and academic self-assessments than non-athletes, but the academic performance of athletes was not below what would be expected based on their entering profiles. Athletes surpassed non-athletes on sociability/extraversion and self-reported well-being in each annual wave of the study. Athletes were not isolated from the rest of the student body; they spent over 50% of their time with non-group members and belonged to non-athletic extracurricular groups every year. Athletes perceived group membership to pose greater difficulties to academic performance and involvements outside the group than did members of other types of extracurricular groups. Athletes drank more heavily on weekends that non-athletes, but did not differ in growth or well-being. Comparisons by athletic status were similar for men and women.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Astin, A.W.(1977).Four Critical Years:Effects of College on Beliefs,Attitudes,and Knowledge.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Astin, A.W.(1993).What Matters in College?Four Critical Years Revisited.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Blinde, E.M.,and Greendorfer, S.L.(1992).Conflict and the college sport experience of women athletes.Women's Sports and Physical Activity Journal,1:97–113.
Cantor, N.E.,and Prentice, D.A.(1996).The Life of the Modern-Day Student-Athlete: Opportunities Won and Lost.Paper presented at the Princeton Conference on Higher Education,Princeton University,Princeton,NJ.
Engstrom, C.M.,and Sedlacek, W.E.(1991).A study of prejudice toward university student-athletes.Journal of Counseling and Development 70 (1):189–193.
Engstrom, C.M.,and Sedlacek, W.E.(1993).Attitudes of residence hall students toward student-athletes:Implications for advising,training,and programming. Journal of College and University Student Housing 23 (1):28–33.
Engstrom, C.M., Sedlacek, W.E.,and McEwen, M.K.(1995).Faculty attitudes toward male revenue and nonrevenue student-athletes.Journal of College Student Development 36 (3):217–227.
Hair, J.F., Anderson, R.E., Tatham, R.L.,and Black, W.C.(1998).Multivariate Data Analysis (5th edn.).Upper Saddle River,NJ: Prentice Hall.
Hood, A.B., Craig, A.F.,and Ferguson, B.W.(1992).The impact of athletics, part-time employment,and other activities on academic achievement.Journal of College Student Development 33(5):447–453.
Leichliter, J.S., Meilman, P.W., Presley, C.A.,and Cashin, J.R.(1998).Alcohol use and related consequences among students with varying levels of involvement in college athletics.Journal of American College Health 46 (6):257–262.
Meyer, B.B.(1990).From idealism to actualization:The academic performance of female collegiate athletes.Sociology of Sport Journal 7(1):44–57.
Nattiv, A., Puffer, J.C.,and Green, G.A.(1997).Lifestyles and health risks of collegiate athletes:A multi-center study.Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine 7(4):262–272.
Nelson, T.F.,and Wechsler, H.(2001).Alcohol and college athletes.Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 33(1):43–47.
Parham, W.D.(1993).The intercollegiate athlete:a 1990s pro file.The Counseling Psychologist 21(3):411–429.
Pascarella, E.T.,and Smart, J.C.(1991).Impact of intercollegiate athletic participation for African-American and Caucasian men:Some further evidence.Journal of College Student Development 32(2):123–130.
Pascarella, E.T., Bohr, L., Nora, A.,and Terenzini, P.T.(1995).Intercollegiate athletic participation and freshman-year cognitive outcomes.Journal of Higher Education 66(4):369–387.
Pascarella, E.T., Truckenmiller, R., Nora, A., Terenzini, P.T., Edison, M.,and Hagedorn, L.S.(1999).Cognitive impacts of intercollegiate athletic participation. The Journal of Higher Education 70(1):1–26.
Prentice, D.A.(1997).The Student-Athlete.Paper presented at the 250th Anniversary Symposium on the Student-Athlete,Princeton,NJ.
Purdy, D.A., Eitzen, D.S.,and Hufnagel, R.(1985).Are athletes also students?The educational attainment of college athletes.In D. Chu, J.O. Segrave,and B.J. Becker (eds.),Sport and Higher Education,pp.221–234.Champaign,IL: Human Kinetics.
Richards, S.,and Aries, E.(1999).The division III athlete:Academic performance, campus involvement,and growth.Journal of College Student Development 40(3): 211–218.
Rosenberg, M.(1965).Society and the Adolescent Self-image.Princeton,NJ: Princeton University Press.
Ryan, F.J.(1989).Participation in intercollegiate athletics:Affective outcomes.Journal of College Student Development 30(2):122–128.
Sedlacek, W.E.,and Adams-Gaston, J.(1992).Predicting the academic success of student-athletes using SAT and noncognitive variables.Journal of Counseling and Development 70(6):724–727.
Simons, H.D., Van Rheenen, D.,and Covington, M.V.(1999).Academic motivation and the student athlete.Journal of College Student Development 40(2):151–162.
Shulman, J.L.,and Bowen, W.G.(2001).The Game of Life.Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Steele, C.M.,and Aronson, J.(1998).Stereotype threat and the test performance of academically successful African-Americans.In C. Jencks and M. Phillips (eds.), The Black-White test score gap pp.401–427.Washington,D.C.: Brookings Institution.
Stone, J.A.,and Strange, C.C.(1989).Quality of student experiences of freshman intercollegiate athletes.Journal of College Student Development 30(2):148–154.
Stuart, D.(1985).Academic preparation and subsequent performance of intercollegiate football players.Journal of College Student Personnel 26(2):124–129.
Wolf-Wendel, L.E., Toma, J.D.,and Morphew, C.C.(2001).There's no “I ”in “team ”:Lessons from athletics on community building.The Review of Higher Education 24(4):369–396.
Wolniak, G.C., Pierson, C.T.,and Pascarella, E.T.(2001).Effects of intercollegiate athletic participation on male orientations toward learning.Journal of College Student Development 42(6):604–624.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Aries, E., McCarthy, D., Salovey, P. et al. A Comparison of Athletes and Non-Athletes at Highly Selective Colleges: Academic Performance and Personal Development. Research in Higher Education 45, 577–602 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:RIHE.0000040264.76846.e9
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:RIHE.0000040264.76846.e9