Examining the professional career values and career awareness of athlete- students: the sample of the faculty of sports sciences

Abstract

Background and Study Aim. Athlete-students continue their athletic careers at a professional level during their education, or many try to pursue alternative career paths. While much attention has been given to Athlete-students' academic progress and graduation rates in the literature, little attention has been paid to their attitudes towards career values and career awareness. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the career awareness and career values of athletes-students according to some demographic variables. Material and Methods. This cross-sectional descriptive-correlational study was performed in the Sports Science Faculty of Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University of Turkey which forms the universe of the study. A total of 334 (162 female and 172 male) athletes-students who were undergraduate students in the sports sciences faculty of the university participated in the research. The data collection tool in the study "Professional Career Awareness Scale", and "Career Values Scale" was used. T-test and One-Way ANOVA tests were used to perform the differential analysis and Pearson Correlation analysis was used to determine the correlation between variables. Results. According to the results of the research, it was found that scores of the professional career values and career values of the athletes-students were at a moderate level. It was observed that the students' career values dimensions perception scores differed according to their perception scores and gender, department, class, age variables; there was no difference between the variable of being a licensed athlete and the dimensions. Differences were observed between career awareness dimensions, professional development disposition, and department and age variables. There was no difference between career awareness dimensions and gender, status of being a licensed athlete, and class variable. In addition, it is seen that there is a low and moderate relationship between professional career awareness and career values sub-dimensions. Conclusions. According to these results, it can be said that due to the lack of standardized measures of athlete-student career development, career awareness and career values are at a moderate level and their perceptions differ according to their demographic characteristics.