Keywords

student-athletes, community colleges, athletic participants

Abstract

Researchers have determined that college student-athletes are an underrepresented population when it comes to utilizing college counseling services. Traditional students have appeared for counseling services more so than student-athletes. The primary purpose of this study was to assess the relationships between attitudes toward help seeking behavior and (a) expectations about counseling, (b) athlete status, and (c) gender of respondent among community college students. The study included 195 students at a central Florida community college, 74 student-athletes and 121 non-athlete students. The participants were asked to convey their counseling expectations by completing the Expectations About Counseling-Brief Form. Respondents were also asked to complete the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale to measure their attitudes toward help seeking behavior. Further qualitative data was accumulated during an interview with one student-athlete from each of the five intercollegiate athletic teams. For this study, two hypotheses were considered. First, it was hypothesized that a significant relationship existed between attitudes toward help seeking behavior and expectations about counseling and that expectations about counseling were expected to account for a significant amount of variance in attitudes toward help seeking behavior. Results of the data analyses revealed that respondents' attitudes toward help-seeking behavior correlated significantly with only two of the four counseling expectation factors. A positive correlation was discovered for the factor of Personal Commitment and a negative correlation for the factor of Counselor Expertise. Linear regression analysis supported that expectations about counseling were expected to account for a significant amount of variance in attitudes toward help-seeking behavior. The second hypothesis hypothesized that there would be no statistically significant difference in attitudes toward help-seeking behavior based on athletic participation (student-athlete versus non-athlete students) or gender of respondent. The results of a MANOVA indicated that gender of respondent did have a statistically significant effect on attitudes toward help-seeking behavior; therefore this hypothesis was only partially supported. Based on these findings, implications for counseling student-athletes and non-athlete students are discussed. Interpretations of data analyses are included and study limitations and delimitations are identified. Finally, suggestions for future research are identified and discussed.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2005

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Bozeman, William

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

College

College of Education

Department

Educational Research, Technology, and Leadership

Degree Program

Education

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0000391

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0000391

Language

English

Release Date

January 2010

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

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