The Role of Simultaneous Pursuing of Academic and Athletic Activities over Youth in Personality Development

Iryna Arshava, Dina Nosenko, Ganna Nosenko, Anton Sayevich

Department of General and Medical Psychology, Dnipropetrovsk National University, Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine.
Projects Managements, Dnipropetrovsk Regional Institute of Public Administration, the National Academy of Public Administration of Ukraine, Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine.

DOI: 10.4236/psych.2013.43A045                

Abstract

In search of approaches to defining the psychological life history of an individual the contemporary personality psychologists address the individual differences in behavior reflecting the interplay of the specific real life situations and the new dynamic contextualized trait constructs which can cast light on the within-person causal dynamics. The participants of the research—thirty University-level student-athletes and 109 secondary college-level students, simultaneously pursuing the academic and athletic activities, were shown to display different levels of personality self-evolution under this specific situation depending on the sporting achievements attained. Clustering the samples (K-means algorithm) into the two groups each, which significantly differed on the personality variables, indicative of the self-evolution dynamics, showed that the higher was the level of sporting achievements the more significantly the participants appeared to differ on the patterns of coping strategies preferred, the emotional intelligence abilities, hardiness and dispositional resources of self-evolution acquired. Equally high levels of internal locus of control and the mental health continuum measures in both clusters of the university-level student-athletes can also be regarded as favorable outcomes of combining two significant life activities for stimulating the personality development.

Keywords

Sporting and Academic Activities; Levels of Achievements; Personality Development

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

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[48]	Golby, J., & Sheard, M. (2004). Mental toughness and hardiness at different levels of rugby league. Personality and Individual Differences, 37, 933-942. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2003.10.015
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[51]	Keyes, C. L. M. (2007). Promoting and protecting mental health as flourishing: A complementary strategy for improving national mental health. American Psychologist, 62, 95-108. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.62.2.95
[52]	Krukova, T. L. (2000) On assessing coping behavior of the contemporary youth. In P. Tula (Ed.), Psychology on the borderline of ages, 48-51.
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[58]	Maddi, S. R. (1999). The personality construct of hardiness: Effects on experiencing coping and strain. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 51, 2, 83-94. doi:10.1037/1061-4087.51.2.83
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[62]	Nosenko, E. L., & Arshava, I. F. (2009). Health enhancing function of problem-focused coping strategy. Psychology & Health, 24, 2009, 85.
[63]	Nosenko, E. L., & Kovriga, N. V. (2001). Trait-oriented approach to operationalizing emotional Intelligence. Abstracts of the 7th European Congress of Psychology, London, 1-6 July 2001, 211.
[64]	Nosenko, E., Arshava, I., Nosenko, D., & Nosenko, A. (2012). The role of the simultaneous pursuing of athletic and academic activities in mental health enhancement. Abstract of 26th Conference of the European Health Psychology Society, Prague, 21-25 August 2012. doi:10.1080/08870446.2012.707817
[65]	Parker, J. D. A., Summerfeldt, L. J., Hogan, M. J., & Majeski, S. A. (2004). Emotional intelligence and academic success: Examining the transition from high school to university. Personality and Individual Differences, 36, 163-172. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(03)00076-X
[66]	Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. New York: Oxford University Press.
[67]	Rotter, J. B. (1954). Social learning and clinical psychology. Englewood Cliffs, NY: Prentice-Hall. doi:10.1037/10788-000
[68]	Sheard, M., & Golby, J. (2007). Hardiness and undergraduate academic study: The moderating role of commitment. Personality and Individual Differences, 43, 579-588. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2007.01.006