| This study examines the relationship between the social and personal characteristics of high school students and student educational expectations and attainment. The study uses the National Education Longitudinal Survey-88 (NELS-88) to assess the relationship between the predictor variables and the outcome variables of student educational expectations and attainment. Predictor variables were measured when students were in the 10th grade. Educational expectations were later assessed when the students were in the 12th grade, and educational attainment was measured 8 years after high school. Predictor variables included: (a) strength and exclusiveness of athletic identity; (b) time invested in athletics; (c) time invested in academics; (d) type of sport in which the individual participates; (e) perceived parental and peer encouragement in athletics; (f) perceived parental and peer encouragement in academics; and (g) perceived educational expectations of significant others (i.e., father, mother, peers, teacher, and coach). The ascribed variables of socioeconomic status (SES), gender, race/ethnicity, athletic ability, academic ability, and school size were used as controls. Multiple regressions were conducted to determine the strength of relationships between the predictor and outcome variables. The control variables of academic ability and SES accounted for the largest amount of variance in both the educational expectation and educational attainment regression models. Peer educational expectations and encouragement in both athletics and academics was positively related to student educational expectations and attainment. Parental expectations and athletic encouragement also played a significant role in educational expectations. Surprisingly, perceived educational expectations by coaches were negatively related to student educational expectations and attainment. Student-athletes who were not seen as good students and not very athletically talented were found to be at risk of developing low educational expectations and attainment. Sport participation was not found to negatively impact educational expectations and attainment. Possible explanations, implications, and future directions related to these findings are discussed. |
