College female-athlete identity in sport culture on campus: A narrative inquiry

Location

1047

Format Type

Event

Format Type

Paper

Start Date

January 2019

End Date

January 2019

Abstract

This research seeks to uncover the experience of college female student-athlete as they construct their identities by participating in sport culture on a university campus. This research adopts Vygotsky’s culture-history activity theory (CHAT) to frame a qualitative inquiry by examining following overarching research question: How does sport culture on a university campus mediate college female-athlete identity? The participants included three college female-athletes who are college athletes that are members of college sport teams that participate in national sport competitions under the auspices of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The instrumentation of this research is an open-ended, in-depth, and semi-structured interview, and each of three interviews lasted 30 to 40 minutes. After the interviews were transcribed verbatim, the researchers used the constant comparative method to code the research data. Subsequent interpretation pointed to findings that superficial campus culture, united sport culture on campus, misunderstanding about being female athletes and college students, organized campus life, and inclusive identity all played a part in the formation of these athletes’ identities.Findings are discussed in the context of Vygotsky’s culture-history activity theory. These findings may help female-athletes to have a better understanding of their identities in their local communities.

Keywords

qualitative inquiry, female-athletes, identity

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College female-athlete identity in sport culture on campus: A narrative inquiry

1047

This research seeks to uncover the experience of college female student-athlete as they construct their identities by participating in sport culture on a university campus. This research adopts Vygotsky’s culture-history activity theory (CHAT) to frame a qualitative inquiry by examining following overarching research question: How does sport culture on a university campus mediate college female-athlete identity? The participants included three college female-athletes who are college athletes that are members of college sport teams that participate in national sport competitions under the auspices of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The instrumentation of this research is an open-ended, in-depth, and semi-structured interview, and each of three interviews lasted 30 to 40 minutes. After the interviews were transcribed verbatim, the researchers used the constant comparative method to code the research data. Subsequent interpretation pointed to findings that superficial campus culture, united sport culture on campus, misunderstanding about being female athletes and college students, organized campus life, and inclusive identity all played a part in the formation of these athletes’ identities.Findings are discussed in the context of Vygotsky’s culture-history activity theory. These findings may help female-athletes to have a better understanding of their identities in their local communities.