Contrasting Models of Sport and the Intercollegiate Sport Experience of Female Athletes

The purpose of this study was to examine various facets of the intercollegiate sport experience of female athletes who had participated in sport programs which emulated the male sport model to different degrees. Four general premises from feminist perspectives served as the conceptual framework from which to view the recent transformation of women's intercollegiate sport and the possible relationship of such change to the female sport experience. Based on the claims of feminists, it was hypothesized that as a sport program more closely paralleled the male sport model, female athletes would be more likely to describe their intercollegiate sport program/experience in terms of male values and less likely to describe it in terms of female values. Moreover, with increasing levels of emulation of the male sport model, it was hypothesized that female athletes would express greater feelings of alienation and exploitation. To test these four hypotheses, a 12-page questionnaire was mailed to 952 former female athletes who had participated in various sport programs at 10 Division I universities from across the United States. A total of 482 usable questionnaires were returned, with an overall response rate of 56.1%. Each athlete's sport program was evaluated and then placed on a continuum relative to the degree to which it emulated the male sport model. Six dependent variable constructs were created based on the results of factor analyses--"male values," "female values," two measures of alienation (i.e., "worthwhile experience" and "value alienation"), and two measures of exploitation (i.e., "exploitive demands" and "decision-making power"). Only partial support was found for the feminist claims which were tested using zero-order and partial correlation coefficients. Whereas there appeared to be an increasing emphasis on "male values" as the sport program emulated the male sport model, there did not appear to be a concurrent suppression of "female values." Relative to the two forms of alienation examined, the greater the emulation of the male sport model, the higher the athletes' reported levels of "worthwhile experiences" and "value alienation." In terms of the two exploitation constructs, the greater the emulation of the male sport model, the higher the athletes' reported levels of "exploitive demands" and "decision-making powers." (Abstract shortened with permission of author.)

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Physical Education

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2014

Author dc:creator

• Blinde, Elaine Marie

• Education, Physical

Identifier

(UMI)AAI8721588

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/71887