International student-athlete perception of college sport and its effect on adjustment to college.

250 Pages·2016·1.01 MB·English

by  Nels Popp

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Electronic Theses and Dissertations
8-2007
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Nels Popp
University of Louisville
Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd
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Popp, Nels, "International student-athlete perception of college sport and its effect on adjustment to
college." (2007). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1142.
https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/1142
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INTERNATIONAL STUDENT-ATHLETE PERCEPTION OF COLLEGE SPORT
AND ITS EFFECT ON ADJUSTMENT TO COLLEGE

By

Nels Popp
B.S., Saint Mary’s University (Minn.), 1997
M.S., University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, 2004

A Dissertation
Submitted to the Faculty of the
Graduate School of the University of Louisville
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

College of Education and Human Development
University of Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky

August 2007
INTERNATIONAL STUDENT-ATHLETE PERCEPTION OF COLLEGE SPORT
AND ITS EFFECT ON ADJUSTMENT TO COLLEGE

By

Nels Popp
B.S., Saint Mary’s University (Minn.), 1997
M.S., University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, 2004

A Dissertation Approved on

July 27, 2007

By the following Dissertation Committee

____________________________________
Mary A. Hums, Dissertation Co-Chair

____________________________________
T. Christopher Greenwell, Dissertation Co-Chair

____________________________________
Daniel F. Mahony

____________________________________
Simon Pack

____________________________________
Carolyn Rude-Parkins

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DEDICATION

This dissertation is dedicated to my loving wife, Stephanie, who has been with me
every step of the way as I pursued this goal of completing my doctoral program. She has
been incredibly encouraging and understanding throughout the process and she makes the
rewards of completion twice as enjoyable.
I also would like to dedicate this work to my parents, Rod and Milli, who helped
raise me to be both academically inquisitive and a true lover of sports. Without their
guidance, I would not be where I am today.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to take this space to acknowledge all the wonderful people who have
helped me complete this dissertation. First I would like to recognize my co-chairs, Mary
Hums and Chris Greenwell. Dr. Hums has been a true inspiration, fostering and sharing
my enthusiasm for the sport management field, but also tempering it with the direction of
an accomplished writer and researcher. Discussions with her always left me feeling
excited and encouraged about what I could achieve, yet her ability to set deadlines and
writing goals were the keys to this project becoming reality.
Dr. Greenwell, meanwhile, has been extremely helpful in offering suggestions,
additional sources, and insight regarding the methods used in this study. His knowledge
of statistics was particularly helpful, while his personality and easy-going disposition
made the tedious tasks of computing statistics and re-writing drafts much more tolerable.
I also would like to recognize the other members of my committee for their excellent
suggestions: Dan Mahony, Simon Pack, and Carolyn Rude-Parkins.
I would also like to acknowledge all my friends and mentors along my travels
through higher education, including my instructors at Saint Mary’s University, the
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, and at the University of Louisville. I would also like
to thank my great friends at Viterbo and Bellarmine Universities for giving me extra
insight and opportunity in the field of sport administration. Finally, I would like to
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acknowledge the tremendous encouragement and patience of my wife, Stephanie, who
really offered both unyielding support and motivation throughout the process.
I offer my most sincere appreciation to all of you.

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ABSTRACT
INTERNATIONAL STUDENT-ATHLETE PERCEPTION OF COLLEGE SPORT
AND ITS EFFECT ON ADJUSTMENT TO COLLEGE

Nels Popp
July 27, 2007
During the 2004-05 school year, over 10,000 international student-athletes
competed for National Collegiate Athletic Association schools (NCAA, 2006b). Few
researchers have examined how international student-athletes’ college experiences
compare to domestic student-athletes. The purpose of this study was threefold: (a) to
detect differences between international and domestic student-athletes in regards to
adaptation to college, (b) to detect differences between international and domestic
student-athletes in regards to their view of the purpose of college sports, and (c) to
determine whether student-athletes’ views on the purpose of college sport help predict
social adjustment to college or institutional attachment.
A national sample of international and domestic student-athletes from 11 NCAA
Division I institutions completed an instrument comprised of the social adjustment and
institutional attachment scales from the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire
(Baker and Siryk, 1989) and the seven factor scales from a modified version of the
Purpose of Sport Questionnaire developed by Duda (1989). A total of 288 student-
athletes completed the instrument, 174 of whom were international student-athletes
representing 49 different countries.
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Results showed international student-athletes scored significantly lower on the
social adjustment and institutional attachment scales compared to domestic student-
athletes. Among the seven purpose of sport factors, only the factor of competitiveness
revealed a statistically significant difference between the two groups, with international
student-athletes ranking the factor lower than domestic student-athletes. None of the
purpose of sport factors significantly predicted social adjustment to college for either
domestic or international student-athletes. Several purpose of sport factors significantly
predicted institutional attachment, however. A discussion of results and their implications
are outlined.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
DEDICATION...................................................................................................................iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...............................................................................................iv
ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................vi
LIST OF TABLES...........................................................................................................xiii

CHAPTER
I. INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................1
Cross Cultural Adjustment...............................................................1
International Students......................................................................2
Transition from High School to College..........................................3
International Student-Athlete Adjustment.......................................4
Purpose of Sport...............................................................................7
Statement of the Problem...............................................................................8
Purpose of the Study......................................................................................8
Significance of the Study...............................................................................9
Research Questions......................................................................................10
Variables......................................................................................................12
Delimitations................................................................................................13
Limitations...................................................................................................15
Definitions....................................................................................................18
II. LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................19
Cross-Cultural Adjustment..........................................................................20
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International Student Adjustment to College...............................................29
Student Adjustment to College....................................................................43
International Sport Policy Analysis.............................................................50
Conceptual frameworks.................................................................52
National sport policy analysis........................................................59
Club structures...............................................................................70
International Youth Sport Participation Trends and Youth
in Sports Clubs..........................................................................79
Purpose of Sport...........................................................................................94
Elite Sport Transitions...............................................................................104
Student-Athlete Adjustment to College.....................................................113
International Student-Athlete Adjustment to College................................124
Summary of Literature Review..................................................................137
III. METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................140
Purpose of the Study..................................................................................140
Research Questions....................................................................................140
Participants.................................................................................................142
Instrumentation..........................................................................................146
Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire..............................147
Purpose of Sport Questionnaire...................................................148
Operational Definitions..............................................................................151
Data Collection..........................................................................................152
Data Analysis.............................................................................................153
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