Intercultural interaction among student-athletes at an NCAA Division I University

<p>This study was developed to explore the intercultural interactions among college student-athletes at a Division IA university. The primary research question of this study was: How do individual cultural identities contribute to the experience of diversity and inclusion on a sports team? This study was designed to examine how athletes feel included in their teams and whether they can express--or feel the need to suppress--their other social identities in order to fit into the collegiate athletic realm. The following academic areas were relevant to the study: identity development and negotiation, intercultural interaction and contact, athletics, and multicultural education. The data and discussion suggested that the strong sense of team identity may downplay other identities on a team, and student-athletes may negotiate their other identities to fit into the team. Although teams are perceived to be welcoming, there is an underlying need for further multicultural training for the population. This study helped to bridge the gap in research about college sports and intercultural interaction.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis - Pacific Access Restricted

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

International Studies

Year dc:date.available

2013

Author dc:creator

• O'Donnell, Laurie K.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Chris Cartwright

• Social research
• Multicultural Education
• Higher education
• Social sciences
• Education
• College
• Diversity
• Inclusion
• Multicultural
• Student-athlete
• University
• International and Area Studies
• Social and Behavioral Sciences

Licence

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Identifier

9781303497346

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarlycommons.pacific.edu:uop_etds-1254