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This study explored the extent to which athletic identity, belief of financial sustainability through participation at the professional level, scholarship status, and career decision-making self-efficacy predicted career maturity in college athletes. In addition, whether the relationship between athletic identity and career maturity differed depending upon scholarship status, belief of sustaining oneself financially as a professional athlete, and career decision-making self-efficacy was explored. Participants were 221 student-athletes from a large southeastern university. Participants provided demographic information and completed the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale, Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale—Short Form, and Career Decision Scale. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that athletic identity was inversely related to career maturity. In addition, career decision-making self-efficacy was related to career maturity, with high career decision-making self-efficacy associated with higher career maturity. Future research is needed to further explore psychological variables that may explain the relationship between athletic identity and career maturity.

A study was conducted with 124 intercollegiate student-athletes at an NCAA Division I institution to examine the relationship between self-identity variables (i.e., identity foreclosure and athletic identity) and career maturity. Results indicated that both identity foreclosure and athletic identity were inversely related to career maturity. Significant effects of gender, playing status (varsity vs. nonvarsity), and sport (revenue producing vs. nonrevenue producing) on career maturity were observed. The findings suggest that failure to explore alternative roles and identifying strongly and exclusively with the athlete role are associated with delayed career development in intercollegiate student athletes, and that male varsity student-athletes in revenue-producing sports may be especially at risk for impaired acquisition of career decision-making skills. The results underscore the importance of understanding athletic identity issues and exercising caution in challenging sport-related occupational aspirations in presenting career development interventions to student-athletes.

The purpose of the current study was to examine the influences of leader self-efficacy and coaching career outcome expectancies on intentions for advancement in leadership careers of collegiate assistant coaches in the United States. We also investigated psychosocial antecedents of these factors and explored gender differences. Female and male collegiate assistant coaches (N = 674) participated in an online survey consisting of measurements of leadership career advancement intentions, leader self-efficacy, and coaching career outcome expectancies, and their putative antecedents (i.e., developmental challenges, head coach professional support, family-work conflicts, and perceived gender discrimination). Results showed that leader self-efficacy and coaching career outcome expectancies were related to coaches’ leadership career advancement intentions. Developmental challenges and head coach professional support were positively related to leader self-efficacy, while family-work conflicts and perceived gender discrimination were negatively related to coaching career outcome expectancies. Findings also suggested that female assistant coaches may have higher coaching career outcome expectancies, but lower intentions toward leadership career advancement, leader self-efficacy, and developmental challenges than male assistant coaches. The study findings suggest ways to advance junior coaches’ leadership careers.