Restoring Harmony in the Lifeworld? : Identity, Learning, and Leaving Preelite Sport

Sport provides many youth participants with a central life project, and yet very few eventually fulfill their athletic dreams, which may lead them to disengage from sport entirely. Many studies have explored the processes of athletic retirement, but little is known about how youth athletes actually reconstruct their relationship with sport and embodiment postretirement. The authors explored these issues in the story of “Pilvi,” a Finnish alpine skier who disengaged from sport in her late adolescence. Employing an existential-phenomenological approach, they conducted six low-structured interviews with Pilvi, combined with visual methods, and identified key themes relating to the body, space,…

‘That is Why I Gave In to Age My Competitive Ability, but Not My Soul!’ A Spiritual Journey in Endurance Running

In this article, we explore the spiritual dimensions of endurance running. Utilizing existential psychology as our theoretical framework, we approach spirituality as a broad concept encompassing both religious and humanistic worldviews. Through the first author's reflexive narrative and a discourse analysis of a Finnish runner's magazine, Juoksija, this study aimed to gain a deeper understanding of how distance runners negotiate dominant discourses on sport and religion in the process of making running existentially meaningful to them. The research results suggest that spiritual aspects of running underlie, but are rarely given voice in, the performance discourse that is dominant in Finnish…

Development and first application of the athlete adaptation inventory: An exploratory study

Geographic mobility has become an essential part of athletes’ career development and athletic migration is rapidly increasing. However, research on psychological aspects of athletes’ transnational mobility is lacking in the literature. In this study we describe the development of the Athlete Adaptation Inventory (AAI) and examine its first application in a sample of 143 professional and amateur elite migrant athletes. In summary, results indicate that cultural adaptation challenges were perceived as slightly difficult. However, female athletes reported more difficulties than male athletes in the sport domain, whereas male and team sport athletes reported more challenges in the non-sport dom…

‘I was excited to train, so I didn’t have problems with the coach’: dual career athletes’ experiences of (dis)empowering motivational climates

In addition to investing in athletic development, adolescent elite athletes are expected to complete their secondary education. As a result of this expectation and the demands of sport and education, they may struggle to sustain high levels of motivation for both domains. Grounded in theoretical tenets of empowering coaching, this study sought to explore student–athletes’ perceptions of empowering and disempowering motivational climates and their possible implications for athletes’ dual career experiences. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 Finnish student–athletes, and the data were thematically analysed. The analysis indicated that a majority of the athletes had experiences…

‘School, family and then hockey!’ Coaches’ views on dual career in ice hockey

Despite the extensive research into coaches’ roles in supporting athletic development and motivation for sport, few studies have examined coaches’ attitudes and practices towards athletes’ dual careers. The present study extends European research into athletes’ dual careers by examining Finnish ice hockey coaches’ attitudes and practices surrounding players’ education. Ten male coaches aged 27–52 participated in semi-structured interviews. The data were analysed with an existential-narrative theoretical framework and with thematic and structural narrative analysis. Three composite vignettes were created entitled ‘supporting athletic development and players in reaching their own goals’, ‘enj…

Composite vignettes of Swedish male and female professional handball players’ career paths

The aim of this study was to describe gender-specific career paths of Swedish professional handball players. A reanalysis of Ekengren et al. (2018) career interviews with nine male and nine female players led to creating two composite vignettes using the athletes’ own words, accounted for typical features in the male and female players’ career paths. Seven themes were identified in the analysis of the men’s transcripts and eight themes derived from the women’s transcripts. Further, the themes of both vignettes were aligned with career stages described in our previous study (Ekengren et al. 2018). The male players’ vignette is interpreted as a performance narrative congruent with elite handb…

A new perspective on adolescent athletes’ transition into upper secondary school : A longitudinal mixed methods study protocol

The challenge of combining elite sport and education into a dual career pathway remains to be a source of concern for many high-performance athletes. Previous research findings suggest that committed participation in both domains is highly demanding and success in one pursuit often comes at the expense of the other. There are emergent studies, however, that argue for the beneficial and complementary nature of dual career pathways. Consequently, we emphasize the importance of understanding the processes underlying differences in the development of athletes’ life trajectories. This article presents a study protocol to explore new methodological and analytical approaches that may extend curren…

Relationship between coaching climates and student-athletes’ symptoms of burnout in school and sports

The purpose of the present study was to investigate (a) what kind of coaching climates experienced by student-athletes can be found in sports high schools in Finland and (b) how these coaching climates are related to student-athletes’ symptoms of burnout in sports and in school. A total of 414 student-athletes, aged 17–18 years, from 7 sports high schools participated in this study. In addition to background information, the participants completed questionnaires concerning the perceived coaching climate and symptoms of burnout in both school and sports environments. By using latent profile analysis, 4 groups of experienced coaching climates were identified: extremely disempowering, disempow…

The development of school and sports task values among adolescent athletes : The role of gender

AbstractSuccessfully integrating elite sports with education requires motivation to commit oneself to both domains. This study examines the development of and gender differences in adolescent athletes’ task values for school and sports across the upper secondary school years. A total of 391 adolescents (aged 15–16 at the beginning of the study) were followed four times during sports upper secondary school. The participating student athletes were recruited from six sports upper secondary schools in Finland, which offer equal competitive sport opportunities for both genders. The results showed that school- and sports- task values are strongly related to each other. Males valued school less th…

“She is where I’d want to be in my career” : Youth athletes’ role models and their implications for career and identity construction

Abstract Objectives While role models have been documented to play a vital role in adolescents’ career development and identity exploration, in sport psychology they remain an untapped resource. The present study drew on narrative inquiry to explore the patterns of role model selection by adolescent student-athletes and the narrative maps these role models provide for self-construction. As a second objective, the study sought to understand the impact of gender on the selection and meaning of role models. Method Eighteen Finnish student-athletes (10 women, eight men) aged 17-18 participated in conversational interviews. We analysed the data with thematic and structural narrative analyses. Re…

The Co-developmental Dynamic of Sport and School Burnout among Student-Athletes : The Role of Achievement Goals

Student‐athletes who strive for success in high‐level sports while pursuing upper secondary education may be prone to sport and school burnout. This study examined the co‐developmental dynamic of sport and school burnout in Finnish adolescent student‐athletes (Ntime 1 = 391; Ntime 2 = 373) across the first year of upper secondary school using cross‐lagged structural equation modeling (SEM). Furthermore, we used sport and school‐related achievement goals as predictors of sport and school burnout, namely sport and school‐related exhaustion, cynicism, and feelings of inadequacy. The results showed that burnout dimensions in a particular domain were substantially stable within the same domain d…

Sukupuoli ja valmennustyyli vaikuttavat opiskelevien urheilijoiden urapolkuihin

Huipulle tähtäävän urheilun ja opiskelun yhdistäminen onnistuu lukiossa paremmin naisilta kuin miehiltä. Valmentajan merkitys kaksoisuran tukijana on tärkeä. nonPeerReviewed

Urheilija vai opiskelija? : urheilulukiolaisten identiteettiprofiilit

Tutkimuksessa lukioikäisten nuorten kykyä yhdistää opinnot ja urheilu tarkasteltiin identiteetin näkökulmasta. Erityisesti oltiin kiinnostuneita siitä, millaisia identiteettiprofiileja nuorilla urheilijoilla on havaittavissa lukion alussa sekä miten sukupuoli, urheilulaji sekä urheilu- ja opintomenestys selittävät näitä profiileja. Tutkimus on osa ”Finnish Longitudinal Dual Career Study” -tutkimushanketta, jossa seurataan urheilulukiossa opiskelevien nuorten psykososiaalista kehitystä ja akateemista suuntautumista lukiovuosien aikana urheiluun liittyvän urakehityksen rinnalla (Ryba ym. 2016). Syksyllä 2015 suoritettuun kyselytutkimukseen osallistui 391 urheilulukion ensimmäisellä luokalla o…

The role of individual and parental expectations in student-athletes’ career adaptability profiles

To support holistic development, adolescent student-athletes are encouraged to integrate sport with education/academics (i.e., dual careers). Career adaptability, as a psychological resource, may help youth athletes cope with transitions and successfully manage their careers. Individuals with a plan and higher expectations for the future demonstrate higher career adaptability and are better prepared for the future. In the present study, we examined what kinds of distinct career adaptability profiles could be identified among youth athletes in Finland at the transition stage to a sports high school (i.e., specialized school for athletes). Moreover, we investigated whether youth athletes’ suc…

Transnational athletic career and cultural transition

Transnational movement of sports participants is an important dimension of the internationalization and globalization processes in sports industry and also has become a crucial element of athlete professional development in the 21st century. Since Bale and Maguire’s (1994) pioneering work on athletic talent migration, sports sociology and human geography scholars have made strides in mapping international movement flows of skilled sports migrants. Furthermore, with a recent shift in sports labour migration studies from macro- to microsociological perspectives, there has been an increased interest in the agency and multidimensionality of migrant professionals’ life and work experiences acros…

A person-oriented approach to sport and school burnout in adolescent student-athletes: The role of individual and parental expectations

Abstract Objectives The present study aimed to examine what kind of burnout profiles exist among student-athletes based on their sport and school burnout symptoms. Moreover, it was investigated whether athletes' expectations of success in sport and school, on the one hand, and parental expectations, on the other hand, were predictors of the likelihood of the athlete to show a certain profile, after taking into account the effects of gender, grade point average, type of sport, and level of competition. Design and methods The participants were 391 student-athletes (51% females) from six different upper secondary sport schools in Finland, and 448 parents (58% mothers). The athletes filled in q…

The Quantified Athlete: Associations of Wearables for High School Athletes

The adoption of wearable technology in competitive sports can be an advantage to performance and training. Athletes who use personalised data to quantify their performances with the possibilities of sharing with others may use wearables to reinforce the athletic identity. Despite these changes, few studies have actually examined the associations between wearables and developing athletes in their quest for professional sports. Student athletes (n = 437, age = 17y) still in high schools completed a web-based survey about their professional aspirations, athletic identity, and the association with wearables. Wearables were measured by ownership and usage of apps, fitness trackers, or sports wat…

Historicising Cultural Sport Psychology : Dare we De-centre Methodological Eurocentrism?

In this essay we critically reflect on our respective journeys to and within cultural sport psychology (CSP). Since the inception, CSP scholars have advocated for opening the privileged academic space for marginalised voices and omitted subject themes; as well as cautioned researchers that the CSP project itself needs to be constantly revisited and reworked to keep it in progressive flux. We argue that, despite some notable advances, CSP remains a predominantly white Anglo-American intellec-tual space and that previous calls to engage with issues of power and privilege in the prevailing knowledge production have been largely unanswered. The lack of diverse voices within the CSP community ma…

Understanding youth athletes' life designing processes through dream day narratives

A number of studies have investigated career pathways in elite sport with retrospective designs, but few studies have explored how youth elite athletes construct narratives about their future lives and how their dreams and hopes relate to their careers in sport and other life contexts. We drew on career construction theory to understand youth elite athletes' dreams for the future and prominent life themes. Seventeen Finnish youth elite athletes (7 men, 10 women) in the first year of upper secondary sport school participated in the study. They were asked to make visual representations of their “dream days”, and these were used as aids for reflection in low-structured interviews where partici…

The prevalence of musculoskeletal pain and use of painkillers among adolescent male ice hockey players in Finland

Participating in competitive sport increases the risk for injuries and musculoskeletal pain among adolescent athletes. There is also evidence that the use of prescription drugs has increased among sport club athletes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of painkillers among young male ice hockey players (IHP) in comparison to schoolboys (controls) and its relation to the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain and problems during activities and sleeping. Information was gathered through a questionnaire, completed by 121 IHP and compared to the responses of 618 age-matched controls. Results showed that monthly existing pain was at 82% for IHP, and 72% for controls, though IHP had st…

Identity tensions in dual career : the discursive construction of future selves by female Finnish judo athletes

To date, few studies have explored how changes in the practices, policies, and politics of sport and education may be implicated in how young athletes think about and plan for the future. Drawing on cultural praxis and feminist poststructuralist frameworks, this paper explores whether and how dual career (DC) policies and practices in Finland guide female judo athletes’ imaginings about their future. Discourse analysis was used to analyse interviews with three adolescent (aged 16) and three young adult (aged 20, 23, and 27) elite female judo athletes. Differences were found in the ways the athletes in the different age groups constructed their future athletic, civic and gendered selves. We …

“If my family is okay, I’m okay”: Exploring relational processes of cultural transition

The experiences of athletes who relocate from their home country have recently been in the centre of attention in sport psychology. The present study examined how migrant athletes construct meaning...

Development of School and Sport Burnout in Adolescent Student-Athletes: A Longitudinal Mixed-Methods Study.

We investigated the development of school and sport burnout in adolescent student-athletes (N Time 1 = 391, N Time 2 = 373) during their first year in upper secondary school using an embedded mixed-methods design. The questionnaire-based data were analyzed with growth mixture modeling and four burnout profiles were identified among student-athletes. From the found burnout profiles, two were typical for the interviewed subsample of elite athletes (n = 17), that is, burnout risk and non risk profiles. We generated rich descriptions of well-being and ill-being, showing that elite athletes in two burnout profiles differed in their experienced demands and resources related to individual and envi…

The Co-developmental Dynamic of Sport and School Burnout among Student-Athletes : The Role of Achievement Goals

Student-athletes who strive for success in high-level sports while pursuing upper secondary education may be prone to sport and school burnout. This study examined the co-developmental dynamic of sport and school burnout in Finnish adolescent student-athletes (Ntime 1  = 391; Ntime 2  = 373) across the first year of upper secondary school using cross-lagged structural equation modeling (SEM). Furthermore, we used sport and school-related achievement goals as predictors of sport and school burnout, namely sport and school-related exhaustion, cynicism, and feelings of inadequacy. The results showed that burnout dimensions in a particular domain were substantially stable within the same domain…

The Role of Resilience in Student-Athletes’ Sport and School Burnout and Dropout : A Longitudinal Person-oriented Study

Although it has been shown that student‐athletes who pursue upper secondary school alongside with an athletic career may be prone to sport and school burnout, the concrete life changes resulting from burning out, such as dropping out of sport or school, have not been investigated. Moreover, it is unknown why some student‐athletes do not burnout. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether there are different kinds of profiles—based on the level and development of sport and school burnout symptoms across upper secondary school—that can be identified among student‐athletes and how resilience and the likelihood of dropping out from sport or school differ between the profiles. The s…

Beyond life-skills: talented athletes, existential learning and (Un)learning the life of an athlete

Following developments in educational discourse more broadly, learning discourses in youth sport have been shaped by outcome-based and instrumental goals of developing useful life-skills for ‘successful’ lives. There is, however, a need to expand such traditional understandings of sport-based youth development, which we undertook by exploring existential learning in sport through encountering discontinuity. We conducted in-depth qualitative research with 16 Finnish athletes (seven men/nine women, aged 19–20), five of whom had recently disengaged from the athlete development pathway. In the interviews, we used creative non-fiction vignettes to invite reflections on learning experiences in sp…

Rethinking age in athletic retirement: An existential-narrative perspective

The aim of this paper is to examine theoretical understandings of athletic career and career termination from an existential-narrative perspective. Our critical analysis suggests that career models and many research texts have an implicit understanding of sport as a profession and propose a normative end to the career when athletes no longer improve their results. Being framed by Western cultural narratives of ageing as decline, the aforementioned career models disregard athletes’ subjective careers and their agency in bringing meaning to experiences of ageing and decline in athletic performance. While the main focus of this paper is on theoretical analysis, some empirical findings from our…

‘Don’t ever mix God with sports’: Christian religion in athletes’ stories of life transitions

Sport psychology researchers have increasingly recognized the need to adopt a holistic perspective when seeking to understand athletes’ adaptation to life transitions. The present study sought to understand how religion influences athletes’ journeys in sport and experiences of life transitions. Two Christian elite athletes participated in life story interviews which we analyzed via narrative analysis. Although the participants narratively separated religious belief from sport, religion, as a source of basic world assumptions and values, provided a broader framework of meaning and continuity in their sport lives. Yet, both stories involved a growing distance to institutional religious practi…

The Work of Cultural Transition: An Emerging Model

In today’s uncertain, fluid job market, transnational mobility has intensified. Though the concept of cultural transition is increasingly used in sport and career research, insight into the processes of how individuals produce their own development through work and relationships in shifting cultural patterns of meaning remains limited. The transnational industry of sports, in which athletes’ psychological adjustment to cultural transitions has implications for both performance and meaningful life, serves as a backdrop for this article. This study applied the life story method to interviews with 15 professional and semi-professional athletes, focusing particularly on the cultural transition …

Negotiating female judoka identities in Greece : A Foucauldian discourse analysis

Abstract Objectives The objectives of this paper are to trace the discourses through which female Greek judokas articulate their sporting experiences and to explore how they construct their identities through the negotiation of sociocultural beliefs and gender stereotypes. Design This article is based on interview data from a larger ethnographic research with women judo athletes, grounded in a cultural praxis framework. Method Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted during fieldwork in Greece. Interview data were analyzed drawing on a Foucauldian approach to discourse analysis. Results We identified four concepts—biology, gender, femininity, and judo/sport—that were central to unearth…

Cultural sport psychology: a critical review of empirical advances

Despite a long standing assertion that sociocultural domain is one of the factors constituting human psychological phenomena, sport psychological science has only recently begun to examine culture as the principal basis of physical activity and sport participants’ behaviour, wellbeing, engagement, and performance outcomes. Emphasizing the centrality of culture in bringing meaning to athlete careers and life projects, I summarise empirical literature explicitly positioned within cultural sport psychology (CSP). Specifically, I focus on two areas of psychological inquiry – acculturation and athletic career – in which the CSP theoretical tenets and agenda stimulated emergence of novel research…

Hobby, career or vocation? Meanings in sports coaching and their implications for recruitment and retention of coaches

Rationale/Purpose: Traditional European sports clubs are facing increasing pressures to professionalise their services, while also encountering difficulties in the recruitment and retention of the coaching workforce. We used the concept of meaningful work to explore why coaching is worthwhile to coaches and how they have responded to the changes in the structural and narrative context of their work. \ud \ud Methodology: Drawing on narrative inquiry, we explored the various meanings and justifications that athletics (track and field) coaches assign to coaching in Finland and England. Twenty-three coaches (8 women, 15 men) aged 22 – 86 participated in narrative interviews that were analysed u…

What can gender tell us about the pre-retirement experiences of elite distance runners in Finland?: A thematic narrative analysis

Objectives This study explores gendered experiences of the mastery stage in endurance runners' athletic careers in terms of (a) key themes in this period of life, (b) retirement decision-making and (c) changes in athletic and runner identities. Design and method Ten male and nine female athletes aged between 25 and 62 participated in individual interviews. The data were analyzed via thematic narrative analysis. Results and conclusion Gendered meanings permeate career decision-making and retirement patterns of Finnish runners. Female athletes reported many difficulties, including health problems, loneliness, societal pressure and lack of social support during the final years of their careers…

Negotiating a transnational career around borders: Women's stories in boundaryless academia

The study aimed to give voice to two women sport scientists' life stories to centralize the challenges and ways of coping their career journeys entailed, and enlighten our understanding of the lived experience and meaning of academic migrating. They shared transnational career stories through interviews and ongoing conversations which we re-story in a creative non-fiction story where we blended the two. Our data collection, analysis and representation were informed by theoretical, methodological and interpretive bricolage. As the creative non-fiction story shows, the academic entrepreneur ideal was somewhat disrupted in the women's lives, as migration experiences, aside from thrills, also i…

Identity and Cultural Transition: Lessons to Learn from a Negative Case Analysis

In this paper, we present a single case study of identity crisis that unfolded in the cultural transition context. Our participant was ‘Jenni’ – a 26 years old female basketball player with the dou...

Narrative and discursive perspectives on athletic identity : Past, present, and future

Abstract Objectives The dominant role-based conceptualisations of athletic identity have recently been challenged in favour of theoretical perspectives that view identity as a complex cultural construction. In the present study, we analysed empirical studies on athletic identity positioned in narrative and discursive approaches to gain an insight into the use and subsequent contribution of these approaches to knowledge production in this research topic. Design and method A total of 23 articles, of which 18 narrative studies and five discursive studies, were identified in a systematic literature search. We used the meta-study method to analyse these studies in terms of basic assumptions, met…

Developing narrative identities in youth pre-elite sport : bridging the present and the future

Narrative research has contributed to understandings of athletic identity as an evolving story of the self that is creatively put together by the agentic individual but necessarily dependent on broader narratives within which we all live our lives. However, most studies in sport have focused on retrospective ‘big stories’ of athletes’ lives, rather than on-going, future-oriented identity construction through storytelling. In this study, we explored Finnish pre-elite athletes’ emerging stories of the self to understand the processes associated with the narrative selection and the resources they tap into in making sport meaningful to them. Nine women and eight men aged 17–18 were invited to c…

Urheilun ja opiskelun yhdistämisessä tarvitaan valmennusta kahdelle uralle

The role of parental affection and psychological control in adolescent athletes' symptoms of school and sport burnout during the transition to upper secondary school.

Abstract Introduction The transition from compulsory school to upper secondary school is a challenging period for adolescents. Especially challenging it can be for adolescents who aim to integrate two domains of achievement, such as an athletic career and academic education. The pressure from two intertwined achievement domains may make student-athletes vulnerable to symptoms of burnout. The study examined the role of mothers' and fathers’ affection and psychological control as possible risk or protective factors in the symptoms of school and sport burnout among 15–16 year olds adolescent athletes in Finland. Methods The adolescents’ (n = 391) burnout symptoms in the two domains were measur…

What can gender tell us about the pre-retirement experiences of elite distance runners in Finland?: A thematic narrative analysis

Abstract Objectives This study explores gendered experiences of the mastery stage in endurance runners' athletic careers in terms of (a) key themes in this period of life, (b) retirement decision-making and (c) changes in athletic and runner identities. Design and method Ten male and nine female athletes aged between 25 and 62 participated in individual interviews. The data were analyzed via thematic narrative analysis. Results and conclusion Gendered meanings permeate career decision-making and retirement patterns of Finnish runners. Female athletes reported many difficulties, including health problems, loneliness, societal pressure and lack of social support during the final years of thei…

Implications of the identity position for dual career construction: Gendering the pathways to (Dis)continuation

Objectives To examine how gender functions in the narrative construction of dual career styles, and how these styles impact the (dis)continuation of a dual career pathway. Design Longitudinal qualitative study. Method Life story interviews with 18 talented Finnish athletes (10 cis women, 8 cis men) at four points in time – when they averaged 16, 17, 19, and 20 years of age – followed by an integrative narrative-discursive analysis. Results (a) contrapuntal style was gender-typically female; (b) monophonic style was gender-typically male; and (c) dissonant style was an important pathway to dual career discontinuation through which gender ideologies impacted the emergent adults with different…

A taxonomy of dual career development environments in European countries

Research question. The last decade has seen an increase in empirical research associated with dual careers in sport, with a particular focus on understanding and developing individual characteristics which are important to ensure success in sports and education or a vocation. More recent work has, however, also identified the importance of environmental factors in ensuring successful dual career outcomes. The aims of this study, therefore, are to: (a) identify and classify the different types of dual career development environments (DCDEs) and (b) provide outlines of the key features of the environments identified. Research methods. To achieve these aims, this study adopted the procedure of…

“Some Women Are Born Fighters”: Discursive Constructions of a Fighter’s Identity by Female Finnish Judo Athletes

Martial arts and combat sports have been traditionally associated with masculinity, and a range of contradictory meanings have been attached to women’s engagement and experiences. The present study draws on cultural praxis and feminist poststructuralist frameworks to explore how female martial artists are subjectified to dominant cultural discourses surrounding fighting and competition. Interviews with nine female judoka (judo athletes) were gathered in Finland and analyzed using Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (FDA). The FDA revealed that in female judoka talk, judo was constructed as a sport for all, but also as a male domain and a manly sport with fighting and competition as innate mascul…

Women fighters as agents of change: A Brazilian jiu jitsu case study from Finland

Brazilian jiu jitsu (BJJ), a grappling system of combat, evolved from the teachings of a Japanese judoka who moved to Brazil in the 1920s. Focusing on ground fighting, BJJ is rapidly evolving into a combat sport with competitions taking place worldwide (Hogeveen and Hardes, 2014; Spencer, 2014). Unique to the BJJ culture is the way that the ‘secrets’ of the sport are transferred from expert to novice and from one club to the other. Clubs are organised into international ‘teams’, shaping global communities of practitioners that share techniques and philosophies. Unlike many other martial arts that insist on the traditional way of passing knowledge from one teacher to many students behind the…

Valmennustyyleillä ja sukupuolella keskeinen rooli urheilijan kaksoisuramotivaatiossa

The role of resilience in student-athletes' sport and school burnout and dropout: A longitudinal person-oriented study.

Although it has been shown that student-athletes who pursue upper secondary school alongside with an athletic career may be prone to sport and school burnout, the concrete life changes resulting from burning out, such as dropping out of sport or school, have not been investigated. Moreover, it is unknown why some student-athletes do not burnout. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether there are different kinds of profiles-based on the level and development of sport and school burnout symptoms across upper secondary school-that can be identified among student-athletes and how resilience and the likelihood of dropping out from sport or school differ between the profiles. The s…

Superwomen? Young sporting women, temporality and learning not to be perfect

New forms of neoliberal femininity create demanding horizons of expectation for young women. For talented athletes, these pressures are intensified by the establishment of dual-career discourses that construct the combination of high-performance sport and education as a normative, ‘ideal’ pathway. The pressed time perspective inherent in dual-careers requires athletes to employ a variety of time-related skills, especially for young women who aim to live up to ‘superwoman’ ideals that valorise ‘success’ in all walks of life. Drawing on existential phenomenology, and in-depth interviews with 10 talented Finnish sportswomen (aged 19–22), we explored their experiences of lived time when pursui…

Sport burnout inventory - dual career form for student-athletes : assessing validity and reliability in a finnish sample of adolescent athletes

The pressure of pursuing an athletic career simultaneously with education may set adolescent student-athletes at risk for sport and school burnout. Although the 2 life domains of student-athletes are strongly intertwined, so far, there has not been an instrument for investigating sport burnout parallel to school burnout. The aim of the present study was to introduce a sport burnout measure for adolescents in a dual career context and investigate its validity and reliability by using confirmatory factor analysis. Methods The participants were 391 student-athletes (51% females) who filled in a questionnaire of sport burnout and background variables in the beginning of upper secondary school. …

Antecedents and Consequences of Student-Athletes’ Identity Profiles in Upper Secondary School

The present study examined the identity profiles that upper-secondary-school Finnish student-athletes show, and the extent to which these profiles were associated with their athletic and academic achievements and withdrawal from sports and school. A total of 391 adolescent athletes (51% females) completed assessments of student and athletic identity four times during their time in upper secondary school. Using growth mixture modeling, three groups were identified: (a) dual identity (77%), (b) changing identity (5%), and (c) athletic identity (18%). The higher the academic achievement was at Time 1, the more likely the athletes were to show dual identity than athletic identity profile. Simil…

Urheilulukiolaisten siirtymä varhaisaikuisuuteen : identiteetin yhteys urheilun ja opintojen jatkamiseen

Siirtymä varhaisaikuisuuteen tuo urheilijoiden elämään useita muutoksia, joiden vuoksi todennäköisyys lopettaa tavoitteellinen kilpaurheilu-ura kasvaa. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää, kuinka suuri osa urheilulukion vuonna 2015 aloittaneista nuorista jatkoi yhtäältä tavoitteellista kilpaurheilua ja toisaalta opintoja lukion jälkeen varhaisaikuisuudessa sekä olivatko sukupuoli ja lajimuoto (yksilö- vai joukkuelaji) yhteydessä jatkamiseen. Lisäksi tutkittiin, ennustivatko lukioaikaiset urheilija- ja opiskelijaidentiteetit kilpaurheilun ja opintojen jatkamista. Tutkimus on osa Jyväskylän yliopiston Winning in the long run -pitkittäistutkimusta, jonka seurantavaihe toteutettiin sy…

Career Adapt-Abilities Scale – Dual Career Form (CAAS-DC): psychometric properties and initial validation in high-school student-athletes

Talented adolescent athletes attempting to sustain academic and vocational training alongside the increasing demands of their athletic career often encounter difficulties, including lower vocational readiness and the challenge of adapting to life after elite sport. Therefore, it is necessary to better understand the specific competencies that youth athletes can draw upon to successfully combine sport and education into a dual career pathway. Building on the existing Career Adapt-Abilities Scale [Savickas & Porfeli, (2012). Career adapt-abilities scale: Construction, reliability, and measurement equivalence across 13 countries. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 80(3), 661–673], we developed a …

“Sport has always been first for me” but “all my free time is spent doing homework”: Dual career styles in late adolescence

Abstract Objectives In adolescence, personally meaningful autobiographical memories begin to integrate into cultural narrative structures to form a life story. We examined how and to what extent adolescent Finnish athletes narrate and integrate significant life events in sport and education into their identities and future narratives in order to delineate the different styles of athletes’ career construction. Design Longitudinal qualitative study. Method Ten female and eight male, elite junior athletes, aged 15–16 at baseline, participated in individual conversational interviews. The resulting interview data were analyzed using narrative analysis. Results Thirteen of 18 adolescent athletes …

Urheilu-uran yhdistäminen koulutukseen : kaksoisuraympäristöt ja urheilulukioiden menestystekijät Suomessa

Eurooppalaisessa urheilupolitiikassa on viime vuosikymmenten aikana kasvavassa määrin pyritty tukemaan urheilu-uran yhdistämistä opiskeluun ja työuraan. Erasmus+ projektin “Ecology of Dual Career” (ECO-DC, 2017) tutkimusryhmän määritelmän mukaan tämä urheilun ja koulutuksen/työn yhdistävä kaksoisuraa tukeva kehitysympäristö (Dual Career Development Environment, DCDE) on tarkoituksenmukaisesti kehitetty järjestelmä, joka pyrkii auttamaan urheilijoita tavoitteellisen urheilu-uran ja opiskelun tai työn yhdistämisessä (Morris ym. 2020). Tässä tutkimuksessa kuvataan suomalaiset kaksoisuran kehitysympä-ristöt sekä selvitetään kyselytutkimuksen avulla kehitysympäristöjen erilaisten menestyspiirtei…

Associations Between Student‐Athletes’ Self‐Esteem and Career Adaptability Across the High School Years

The key challenges in sustainable elite sports concern young athletes´ holistic development. Consequently, preparation for dual careers has been recommended to enhance athletes’ well-being and equip them for life after sports. The aim of this study was to examine the developmental associations between self-esteem and career adaptability among adolescent athletes across the high school years and investigate the role of gender in these developmental trajectories. A total of 391 student-athletes were followed up four times from the beginning of high school (T1) to its end (T4) using the Dual Career Form of the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale and the Self-Esteem Questionnaire. The results indicate…

Urheilijoiden kaksoisuraan liittyvän tutkimuksen tämänhetkinen tilanne Suomessa

Urheilijan kaksoisura tarkoittaa huippu-urheilun ja opiskelun/ koulutuksen yhdistämistä. Tämä helpottaa urheilijan siirtymistä urheilu-uralta työmarkkinoille. Vaikka kansainvälisen tutkimuksen mukaan useimmat huippu-urheilijat pitävät koulutusta tärkeänä, he useimmiten asettavat urheilu-uran etusijalle yrittäessään sovittaa harjoittelun ja kilpailemisen asettamat vaatimukset koulutusjärjestelmien vaatimuksiin ja rajoituksiin. Tutkimusten mukaan monet lahjakkaat eurooppalaisurheilijat usein joko lopettavat urheilu-uransa panostaakseen koulutukseen ja sitä kautta työllistymiseen tai viivästyttävät tutkinnon hankkimista keskittyäkseen kokonaan urheiluun. Kysymys on otettu osaksi EU:n strategis…

Cultural sport psychology as a pathway to advances in identity and settlement research to practice

Abstract Objectives To situate mostly European cultural sport psychology scholarship in a historical backdrop and then to draw on two recent examples from such scholarship to propose future prospects. Design A review of literature is utilized to situate the recent prominence of cultural sport psychology. This review is written temporally from past, to present, to future prospects. Method A presentation of scholarship is presented temporally relating to the following: (a) gender scholarship, (b) cross cultural voids in race and ethnicity, (c) situating of cultural sport psychology in present day, with the emergence of European scholars, (d) the topics of intersectionality of identity and acc…

The role of adolescent athletes' task value patterns in their educational and athletic career aspirations

Abstract The present study examined the stability and change in task value patterns that Finnish student-athletes (n  = 391) show during their first two years in upper secondary sport school and the extent to which these patterns, and changes in them, are associated with students' future educational and athletic career aspirations . By using latent profile analysis , three different and highly stable motivational patterns were identified among adolescents: (1) a dual motivated pattern, characterized by high value placed on both school and sport; (2) a low academically motivated pattern, characterized by a high value placed on sport but a low value on school; and (3) a relatively low sport m…

“Women easily feel that they have lost a year if they don’t ski faster” : Finnish ski coaches’ discursive constructions of gendered dual career pathways

Objectives Earlier qualitative researchers studying athletes’ dual careers (DCs) have shown that sociocultural discourses on gender are ingrained in DC policies and practices, creating gender inequalities and hierarchies. In this study, we aimed to extend this body of research by examining how Finnish elite youth ski coaches discursively construct athletes’ education and gender in their talk and coaching practices. Similarly, we examined how coaches’ beliefs about athletes' holistic development are interlinked with broader sociocultural discourses on gender. Design Qualitative study. Methods We conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 Finnish ski coaches (seven male, three female) aged …

ISSP position stand : Transnationalism, mobility, and acculturation in and through sport

The historically unprecedented pace of internationalising sport industry and transnational movement of athletic talent in the last 20 years has heightened the need for developing new competencies in research and daily practice of sport psychology professionals. While academic literature in cultural sport psychology and praxis has been increasing, sport professionals and local organisations seem to give scant time and resources to stay abreast of complex social changes in transnational industry and to the development of cultural competencies. Stemming from the continuing need for qualified athletic personnel to support transitioning athletes and to achieve intercultural effectiveness in dail…

Development of School and Sport Burnout in Adolescent Student-Athletes : A Longitudinal Mixed-Methods Study

We investigated the development of school and sport burnout in adolescent student‐athletes (N Time 1 = 391, N Time 2 = 373) during their first year in upper secondary school using an embedded mixed‐methods design. The questionnaire‐based data were analyzed with growth mixture modeling and four burnout profiles were identified among student‐athletes. From the found burnout profiles, two were typical for the interviewed subsample of elite athletes (n = 17), that is, burnout risk and non risk profiles. We generated rich descriptions of well‐being and ill‐being, showing that elite athletes in two burnout profiles differed in their experienced demands and resources related to individual and envi…

Transnational migration in sport and exercise : Co-producing transition spaces

Developing mixed methods research in sport and exercise psychology: potential contributions of a critical realist perspective

Notwithstanding diverse opinions and debates about mixing methods, mixed methods research (MMR) is increasingly being used in sport and exercise psychology. In this paper, we describe MMR trends within leading sport and exercise psychology journals and explore critical realism as a possible underpinning framework for conducting MMR. Our meta-study of recent empirical mixed methods studies published in 2017–2019 indicates that eight (36%) of the 22 MMR studies explicitly stated a paradigmatic position (five drew on pragmatism, two switched paradigms between qualitative and quantitative elements of the study, and one was situated in relativist-interpretivism). The remaining 14 (64%) studies d…

Student Athletes’ Causal Attributions for Sport and School Achievement in Relation to Sport Dropout and Grade Point Average

The present study longitudinally examined stability and change in the attributional profiles of Finnish student athletes (n = 391) in upper secondary sport schools. Moreover, it examined the extent to which these profiles, and changes in them, were associated with athletes’ level of sport competition and school achievements and dropouts at the end of upper secondary sport school. Using latent profile analysis, five different and highly stable attributional profiles were identified for student athletes: (a) depressive (6.9%), (b) athletic self-serving (23.0%), (c) average (16.4%), (d) learned helplessness (30.9%), and (e) responsible (22.8%). The results further showed that over the 3-year s…

Sukupuolinäkökulman huomioimisessa urheilijan uralla tarvitaan monitieteistä otetta

Urheilua hallitsee yhä vanhakantainen miehisyys. Muutos vaatii tuekseen kriittistä tutkimusta. nonPeerReviewed

From athletic talent development to dual career development? A case study in a Finnish high performance sports environment

The focus of dual career (DC) research has shifted from exploring individual experiences within Athletic Talent Development Environments (ATDEs) toward understanding the impact of the environment and the broader cultural context on individuals’ developmental trajectories in Dual Career Development Environments (DCDEs). To comply with national and EU recommendations for socially responsible elite sport, many successful ATDEs list DC as one of their primary values and advertise themselves as DCDEs in order to attract more athletes. The present study aimed to evaluate whether and how a talent development environment for youth athletes in Finland has transformed from an ATDE to DCDE by explorin…

Toward a conceptual understanding of acute cultural adaptation: A preliminary examination of ACA in female swimming

This paper considers a novel approach to researching adaptation in transnational athletes. The first part introduces a conceptualisation of acute cultural adaptation (ACA), which extends the current literature in sport psychology by offering original insights into mechanisms underpinning adaptive processes to a new cultural site during an interim relocation. Rereading a self-determination theory through the lens of cultural epistemology, the proposed theorisation suggests that ACA is realised in everyday practices drawing on a range of material and symbolic cultural resources to satisfy basic psychological needs. The second part of the paper engages the conceptualisation of ACA to make sens…

The role of gender and coaching styles in adolescent student-athletes’ motivational orientations in sport and school

AbstractResearch indicates that the dominant discourses of gender are ingrained in dual career (DC) practices critically influencing athletes’ motivation to construct a DC pathway. While it is important to ensure that all athletes have an equal access to construct a DC pathway despite their gender, there is a gap in the literature examining the role that coaches play in gendering of athletes’ DC pathways. The present study longitudinally examined the gender differences in student-athletes’ motivational orientations in sport and academics throughout high school and the role of coaching style in these orientations. The gender differences in coaching styles in terms of student-athletes’ gender…

Methodology as a ritualized Eurocentrism: Introduction to the special issue

A meta-study of athletic identity research in sport psychology: Current status and future directions

ABSTRACTThe aim of this meta-study is to provide a critical synthesis of qualitative research on athletic identity in sport psychology. A total of 108 empirical studies were identified, including 63 quantitative studies, 40 qualitative studies, and five mixed methods studies. Qualitative and mixed methods studies were reviewed with the meta-study method, which involves a meta-analysis in terms of theoretical perspectives, methodologies, and findings. In our discussion we focus on evaluating and critiquing the current status of qualitative research on athletic identity and outlining recommendations for improving methodological rigor. It is concluded that both quantitative and qualitative stu…

Sport burnout inventory–Dual career form for student-athletes: Assessing validity and reliability in a Finnish sample of adolescent athletes

Background: The pressure of pursuing an athletic career simultaneously with education may set adolescent student-athletes at risk for sport and school burnout. Although the 2 life domains of student-athletes are strongly intertwined, so far, there has not been an instrument for investigating sport burnout parallel to school burnout. The aim of the present study was to introduce a sport burnout measure for adolescents in a dual career context and investigate its validity and reliability by using confirmatory factor analysis. Methods: The participants were 391 student-athletes (51% females) who filled in a questionnaire of sport burnout and background variables in the beginning of upper secon…

Identity and Cultural Transition : Lessons to Learn from a Negative Case Analysis

In this paper, we present a single case study of identity crisis that unfolded in the cultural transition context. Our participant was ‘Jenni’ – a 26 years old female basketball player with the double (Scandinavian and African American) ethnic identity. In a series of life story interviews, she shared her story of migrating to the USA at the age of 16 for sport and study. Jenni’s transition narrative was extracted and analyzed using several complementary theoretical frameworks, including the intersectionality perspective on identity. The analysis of the transition narrative revealed that in spite of the pre-transition high expectations about the transition success, Jenni experienced a crisi…

Coaches' reflections on the meaning and value of Masters athletics

Masters sport is a growing social movement offering the opportunity to participate in competitive sports in later life. Although many studies have explored Masters athletes' experiences, little is known about how other actors in the sport subcultures construct meaning in Masters sport and whether their stories work to support or hinder participation. Our study explored the cultural narrative resources and life scripts surrounding sport and ageing that coaches draw upon in two European countries, England and Finland, where sport policy has put different emphasis on elite sport and sport for all. We analysed interviews from 23 athletics (track and field) coaches (8 women) to understand how th…

Ten essential features of European dual career development environments: A multiple case study

Aim: Dual career development environments (DCDEs) support athletes’ effort in combining their competitive sporting careers with education or work. The characteristics of the environments may differ across cultures. The aim was to identify essential features of DCDEs based on a cross-case analysis of seven European DCDEs in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom within the Erasmus+ Sport project “Ecology of Dual Career”. Design: The study was designed as a multiple case study and based on two holistic ecological working models (Henriksen et al., 2020). The cross-case analysis included series of focus group discussions, in which two-three researchers from e…

The role of career adaptability resources in dual career pathways: A person-oriented longitudinal study across elite sports upper secondary school

Objectives Obtaining education is an important milestone in athletes’ preparation for their professional career after sport. Literature indicates that combining school and sport is not an easy task for many aspiring youth athletes. It has been proposed that career adaptability, which refers to psychosocial resources enabling individuals to solve complex occupational transitions, present and anticipated vocational development tasks, and career related challenges could be a relevant concept for applied work with student-athletes. In this study, we examined whether there are distinct developmental profiles of career adaptability among adolescent athletes across the upper secondary school years…

Learning in sport : from life skills to existential learning

Youth sport is habitually promoted as an important context for learning that contributes to a person’s broader development beyond sport-specific skills. A growing body of research in this area has operated within a life skills discourse that focuses on useful, positive and decontextualised skills in the production of successful and adaptive citizens. In this paper, we argue that the ideological discourse of life skills, underpinned by ideas about sport-based positive youth development, has unduly narrowed the research on learning in sport to only what is deemed functional, teachable, and economically productive. After considering the problems associated with the currently dominant life skil…

Career development and transitions of athletes : the International Society of Sport Psychology Position Stand Revisited

This paper is a comprehensive update of the International Society of Sport Psychology (ISSP) Position Stand on career development and transitions of athletes issued a decade ago (Stambulova, Alfermann, Statler, & Côté, 2009, ISSP Position Stand: Career development and transitions of athletes. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 7, 395–412.). A need for updating the 2009 Position Stand has grown out of the increasing inconsistency between its popularity and high citation, on the one hand, and its dated content that inadequately reflects the current status of athlete career research and assistance, on the other. During the last decade, sport psychology career scholars work…

Exploring the Life Form of a Student Athlete Afforded by a Dual Career Development Environment in Finland

The current paper introduces a case study conducted in one of the most well-established athletic talent development environments in Finland, with the focus on the environment’s ecological dynamics and organizational culture, in light of its recent effort to rebrand itself as a dual career development environment. Our analysis has been inspired by the holistic ecological approach and ecological dynamics, wherein the authors have considered a dual career development environment from the point of view of its transactions with agentic individuals and affordances for student athletes in the study domain, the sports domain, and the private domain. The authors believe our findings can provide othe…