Sport-to-School Spillover Effects of Passion for Sport: The Role of Identity in Academic Performance

Abstract

There is a theoretical and empirical basis that suggests that passion and identity are interrelated and that they can cross the achievement domain in influencing outcomes. Using a sample of student-athletes ( N = 187), the first purpose of this study was to examine whether academic identity and athletic variables (athletic identity, harmonious and obsessive passion for sport) can predict academic performance and persistence. The second purpose was to determine whether these relationships are invariant across sex and first-generation status. Academic outcomes were positively predicted by academic identity and negatively predicted by athletic identity. Harmonious and obsessive passion for sport were both negatively related to academic performance indirectly through athletic identity. Harmonious passion also was a weak positive predictor of academic persistence. The identified relationships were largely invariant across sex and first-generation status. Findings suggest that both academic and athletic variables can predict academic outcomes.