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WHAT IS ATHLETIC IDENTITY?

To understand athletic identity, it helps to first know the basics of how we see ourselves. Oyserman and colleagues (2013) break down our sense of self into three distinct parts:

The self: The total person, including your body, thoughts, feelings, and social roles. The sense of something “feels like me” or is “about me.”

The self-concept: The collection of thoughts and beliefs you have about who you are. This includes attitudes and self-evaluative judgements — past, present, and future.

Identity: The specific roles and social categories that are part of your self-concept, representing the different roles you play and the groups you belong to, like being a student, a friend, or an athlete. This is how you express your self and self-concepts in the real world.

ATHLETIC IDENTITY

Athletic identity (Brewer et al., 1993) is the degree to which an individual identifies with the role of an athlete. It is both a psychological structure (self-concept) that guides how you process self-related information, helping you make sense of your experiences in sport. It’s also a social role (identity) that comes with a set of expectations and ways of interacting with others in a sporting context.

The COMPONENTS OF ATHLETIC IDENTITY

Our understanding of what makes up an athletic identity has evolved.

A Foundational View (BREWER ET AL., 1993; Brewer & CORNELIUS, 2001)

Initially, athletic identity was understood through three components:

  • Social Identity: A feeling of connection and belonging to the “athlete” group.
  • Exclusivity: The degree to which a person’s life and self-worth are wrapped up in being an athlete.
  • Negative Affectivity: The negative emotions that can arise if a person is unable to compete or train.

A Contemporary View (BREWER ET AL., 2022)

The modern view is more detailed, breaking athletic identity down into several distinct parts:

  • Athletic Identity: The foundational belief that “I am an athlete”.
  • Prominence: How important being an athlete is compared to other roles in your life.
  • Self-Worth Contingency: How much your self-esteem is connected to your athletic performance.
  • Self-Presentation: The importance of being seen by others as an athlete.
  • Social Reinforcement: The process of seeking and getting support from others that acknowledges you as an athlete.

An Alternative Perspective (AnderSON, 2004)

Another way to see athletic identity is through a more social lens. This perspective, offered by researcher Anderson, focuses on how identity is negotiated through social interactions. Its components include:

  • Self-Identity: The personal, internal feeling of being an athlete.
  • Social Identity: The feeling of belonging to a specific group of athletes.
  • Exclusivity: The extent to which one’s life revolves around the athlete role.
  • Negative Affect: The negative emotional responses tied to being unable to participate in sport.

The Need for a Lifelong Perspective

Almost all research on athletic identity has focused on youth and elite athletes (Lochbaum et al., 2022; Ronkainen & Kavoura, 2023), which neglects the unique experiences of adults. This is problematic because for many, sport is a lifelong activity, and adulthood is the longest stage of life in which we participate as athletes; the youth and elite phases are often fleeting in comparison. Given that adults continuously shape their identities through life’s transitions, there is a clear need for a lifelong perspective to fully understand what it means to be an athlete – the focus of my doctoral dissertation.