School-Sport Balance in University Student-Athletes

Abstract

The conciliation of school and sports is considered to be a central challenge in the lives of most university student-athletes. This question has been examined to some extent in the literature, however, many gaps remain to better understand this question. The purpose of this doctoral dissertation was to address major research caveats in order to deepen our understanding of the perception of balance between school and sport among undergraduate student-athletes, a notion that is called school-sport balance in this dissertation. More specifically, this doctoral dissertation aims to: (1) provide a new conceptual model of school-sport balance among university student-athletes, (2) develop and conduct a preliminary validation of a questionnaire to assess the construct of school-sport balance, and (3) test a mediation model of school-sport balance with potential antecedents and outcomes. Two empirical articles with two independent samples composed this dissertation. The aim of Article 1 was to develop and conduct a preliminary validation on a new self-report questionnaire to assess the perception of balance between school and sport roles among university student-athletes, namely the School-Sport Balance Scale (SSBS). The preliminary validation of the SSBS is reported in terms of content validity, factorial validity, internal consistency, and a nomological network of developmental correlates consisting of personality, motivation, mental health, wellbeing, as well as sport and school adjustment. The sample was composed of 105 undergraduate university student-athletes, aged between 17 and 25 years old. The results from confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) reported that SSBS has a four-factor structure yielding four subscales: (1) school-to-sport conflict; (2) sport-to-school conflict; (3) school-to-sport facilitation; and (4) sport-to-school facilitation. The internal consistency of the four subscales was also good. Furthermore, as anticipated, sport-to-school and school-to-sport conflicts were mostly related with detrimental correlates, whereas sport-to-school and school-to-sport facilitation were generally associated with beneficial correlates. The aim of Article 2 was to further build on and expand on some of the correlates of Article 1 and investigate potential antecedents and consequences of school-sport balance. More particularly, four serial mediation models were tested, in which autonomous and controlled motivation (school and sport) would lead to school-sport balance (school-sport conflict, and sport-school conflict, school-sport facilitation, sport-school facilitation), which in turn may impact stress (school and sport) and then impact mental health (depression and anxiety symptoms). The sample consisted of a total of 193 undergraduate university student-athletes, aged between 17 and 25 years old. The findings from Article 2 indicated that school-sport balance was not a significant mediator of the relationships between motivation, stress, and mental health. Results however indicated that motivation could be an antecedent of school-sport balance. In addition, findings revealed that sport-school conflict was linked with more sport stress, whereas school-sport conflict was related to more symptoms of anxiety and depression. Yet, when considering school motivation and school stress, school-sport balance was not related to stress or mental health issues. Overall, based on the results of the present dissertation, school-sport balance is an intricate construct to outline and understand. This dissertation, however, provides an important springboard to better understand the role of school-sport balance in the lives of university student-athletes. Research contributions and future research directions are discussed.