Psychological and demographic correlates of athletic identity in elite South African swimmers.

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate if the strength of athletic identity affected the rankings (or salience hierarchy) of 6 every-day life roles among 100 elite South African Swimmers. The link between performance and athletic identity was also investigated along with an investigation of the effects of age and gender. There was found to be no interaction between athletic identity and ranking of life roles; only the athlete role was found to be significantly different between high and medium athletic identity groups. A difference was found between elite and non-elite athletes in the ranking of life roles. There was also no association between athletic identity and performance. As age increased athletic identity decreased, and gender was found to have no influence on athletic identity.