UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff LLoouuiissvviillllee TThhiinnkkIIRR:: TThhee UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff LLoouuiissvviillllee''ss IInnssttiittuuttiioonnaall RReeppoossiittoorryy Electronic Theses and Dissertations 8-2007 IInntteerrnnaattiioonnaall ssttuuddeenntt--aatthhlleettee ppeerrcceeppttiioonn ooff ccoolllleeggee ssppoorrtt aanndd iittss eeffffeecctt oonn aaddjjuussttmmeenntt ttoo ccoolllleeggee.. Nels Popp University of Louisville Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd RReeccoommmmeennddeedd CCiittaattiioonn Popp, Nels, "International student-athlete perception of college sport and its effect on adjustment to college." (2007). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1142. https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/1142 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has retained all other copyrights. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INTERNATIONAL STUDENT-ATHLETE PERCEPTION OF COLLEGE SPORT AND ITS EFFECT ON ADJUSTMENT TO COLLEGE By Nels Popp B.S., Saint Mary’s University (Minn.), 1997 M.S., University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, 2004 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Louisville In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy College of Education and Human Development University of Louisville Louisville, Kentucky August 2007 INTERNATIONAL STUDENT-ATHLETE PERCEPTION OF COLLEGE SPORT AND ITS EFFECT ON ADJUSTMENT TO COLLEGE By Nels Popp B.S., Saint Mary’s University (Minn.), 1997 M.S., University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, 2004 A Dissertation Approved on July 27, 2007 By the following Dissertation Committee ____________________________________ Mary A. Hums, Dissertation Co-Chair ____________________________________ T. Christopher Greenwell, Dissertation Co-Chair ____________________________________ Daniel F. Mahony ____________________________________ Simon Pack ____________________________________ Carolyn Rude-Parkins ii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my loving wife, Stephanie, who has been with me every step of the way as I pursued this goal of completing my doctoral program. She has been incredibly encouraging and understanding throughout the process and she makes the rewards of completion twice as enjoyable. I also would like to dedicate this work to my parents, Rod and Milli, who helped raise me to be both academically inquisitive and a true lover of sports. Without their guidance, I would not be where I am today. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to take this space to acknowledge all the wonderful people who have helped me complete this dissertation. First I would like to recognize my co-chairs, Mary Hums and Chris Greenwell. Dr. Hums has been a true inspiration, fostering and sharing my enthusiasm for the sport management field, but also tempering it with the direction of an accomplished writer and researcher. Discussions with her always left me feeling excited and encouraged about what I could achieve, yet her ability to set deadlines and writing goals were the keys to this project becoming reality. Dr. Greenwell, meanwhile, has been extremely helpful in offering suggestions, additional sources, and insight regarding the methods used in this study. His knowledge of statistics was particularly helpful, while his personality and easy-going disposition made the tedious tasks of computing statistics and re-writing drafts much more tolerable. I also would like to recognize the other members of my committee for their excellent suggestions: Dan Mahony, Simon Pack, and Carolyn Rude-Parkins. I would also like to acknowledge all my friends and mentors along my travels through higher education, including my instructors at Saint Mary’s University, the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, and at the University of Louisville. I would also like to thank my great friends at Viterbo and Bellarmine Universities for giving me extra insight and opportunity in the field of sport administration. Finally, I would like to iv acknowledge the tremendous encouragement and patience of my wife, Stephanie, who really offered both unyielding support and motivation throughout the process. I offer my most sincere appreciation to all of you. v ABSTRACT INTERNATIONAL STUDENT-ATHLETE PERCEPTION OF COLLEGE SPORT AND ITS EFFECT ON ADJUSTMENT TO COLLEGE Nels Popp July 27, 2007 During the 2004-05 school year, over 10,000 international student-athletes competed for National Collegiate Athletic Association schools (NCAA, 2006b). Few researchers have examined how international student-athletes’ college experiences compare to domestic student-athletes. The purpose of this study was threefold: (a) to detect differences between international and domestic student-athletes in regards to adaptation to college, (b) to detect differences between international and domestic student-athletes in regards to their view of the purpose of college sports, and (c) to determine whether student-athletes’ views on the purpose of college sport help predict social adjustment to college or institutional attachment. A national sample of international and domestic student-athletes from 11 NCAA Division I institutions completed an instrument comprised of the social adjustment and institutional attachment scales from the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (Baker and Siryk, 1989) and the seven factor scales from a modified version of the Purpose of Sport Questionnaire developed by Duda (1989). A total of 288 student- athletes completed the instrument, 174 of whom were international student-athletes representing 49 different countries. vi Results showed international student-athletes scored significantly lower on the social adjustment and institutional attachment scales compared to domestic student- athletes. Among the seven purpose of sport factors, only the factor of competitiveness revealed a statistically significant difference between the two groups, with international student-athletes ranking the factor lower than domestic student-athletes. None of the purpose of sport factors significantly predicted social adjustment to college for either domestic or international student-athletes. Several purpose of sport factors significantly predicted institutional attachment, however. A discussion of results and their implications are outlined. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE DEDICATION...................................................................................................................iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...............................................................................................iv ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................vi LIST OF TABLES...........................................................................................................xiii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................1 Cross Cultural Adjustment...............................................................1 International Students......................................................................2 Transition from High School to College..........................................3 International Student-Athlete Adjustment.......................................4 Purpose of Sport...............................................................................7 Statement of the Problem...............................................................................8 Purpose of the Study......................................................................................8 Significance of the Study...............................................................................9 Research Questions......................................................................................10 Variables......................................................................................................12 Delimitations................................................................................................13 Limitations...................................................................................................15 Definitions....................................................................................................18 II. LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................19 Cross-Cultural Adjustment..........................................................................20 viii International Student Adjustment to College...............................................29 Student Adjustment to College....................................................................43 International Sport Policy Analysis.............................................................50 Conceptual frameworks.................................................................52 National sport policy analysis........................................................59 Club structures...............................................................................70 International Youth Sport Participation Trends and Youth in Sports Clubs..........................................................................79 Purpose of Sport...........................................................................................94 Elite Sport Transitions...............................................................................104 Student-Athlete Adjustment to College.....................................................113 International Student-Athlete Adjustment to College................................124 Summary of Literature Review..................................................................137 III. METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................140 Purpose of the Study..................................................................................140 Research Questions....................................................................................140 Participants.................................................................................................142 Instrumentation..........................................................................................146 Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire..............................147 Purpose of Sport Questionnaire...................................................148 Operational Definitions..............................................................................151 Data Collection..........................................................................................152 Data Analysis.............................................................................................153 ix