Introduction 1. Woman's Place in Man's Life Cycle 2. Images of Relationship 3. Concepts of Self and Morality 4. Crisis and Transition 5. Women's Rights and Women's Judgment 6. Visions of Maturity References Index of Study Participants General Index

In a Different Voice. Psychological Theory and Women’s Development. Cambridge, MA (Harvard University Press) 1982.

The central focus of this research is on the development and testing of a theoretical framework to understand performance and retention of volunteers. The framework is centered on identity theory and includes both general and specific role identity as well as organizational variables. Data were obtained from two samples of volunteers for the American Cancer Society (ACS). Specific role identity as an ACS volunteer is predicted from general role identity and several factors related to perceived experiences in the organization. Specific role identity explains significant amounts of variance in the number of hours worked for ACS and other organizations as well as intent to remain an ACS volunteer. Results also suggest that volunteers may experience conflicts between the demands of their general and specific role identities. Finally, the effects of ACS role identity on volunteer behavior are compared with those of organizational commitment.

Role Identity, Organizational Experiences, and Volunteer Performance

This article argues that American adolescent boys become masculine through the continual repudiation of a ‘fag’ identity. Using insights from sociologists of interaction and post-structural theoris...

‘Dude, You’re a Fag’: Adolescent Masculinity and the Fag Discourse

A study was conducted with 124 intercollegiate student-athletes at an NCAA Division I institution to examine the relationship between self-identity variables (i.e., identity foreclosure and athletic identity) and career maturity. Results indicated that both identity foreclosure and athletic identity were inversely related to career maturity. Significant effects of gender, playing status (varsity vs. nonvarsity), and sport (revenue producing vs. nonrevenue producing) on career maturity were observed. The findings suggest that failure to explore alternative roles and identifying strongly and exclusively with the athlete role are associated with delayed career development in intercollegiate student athletes, and that male varsity student-athletes in revenue-producing sports may be especially at risk for impaired acquisition of career decision-making skills. The results underscore the importance of understanding athletic identity issues and exercising caution in challenging sport-related occupational aspirati...

Identity Foreclosure, Athletic Identity, and Career Maturity in Intercollegiate Athletes

A profeminist perspective was employed to study male bonding in the locker rooms of two “big time” college sport teams. Locker room talk fragments were collected over the course of several months by a participant observer, a senior varsity athlete, and by a nonparticipant observer, a sport sociologist. Additional data were collected by means of field observations, intensive interviews, and life histories and were combined to interpret locker room interaction. The analysis indicated that fraternal bonding was strongly affected by competition. While competition provided an activity bond to other men that was rewarding and status enhancing, it also generated anxiety and other strong emotions that the athletes sought to control or channel. Moreover, peer group dynamics encouraged antisocial talk and behavior, much of which was directed at the athletes themselves. To avoid being targeted for jibes and put-downs, the men engaged in conversations that affirmed a traditional masculinity. As a result their locker ...

Fraternal bonding in the locker room: a profeminist analysis of talk about competition and women.

The social psychological concept of identity has been recognized as an important approach to the study of role-related behavior, including sports behavior. Identity has been linked theoretically to the self-concept via the notion of a salience hierarchy, and the salience of an identity in turn has been shown to be associated with time spent in role and other measures of role performance. In this article we present some measurement procedures for the study of the sport identity, and we demonstrate the utility of these procedures by testing hypotheses derived from Stryker and Serpe’s (1982) research on religious role behavior. The sample used to test these hypotheses is a purposive sample of 220 male college students and athletes.

Sport Identity Salience, Commitment, and the Involvement of Self in Role: Measurement Issues

The aim of this study is to compare competition, fitness, and social motivation for sport participation between American college athletes and Austrian student sport club members. Our hypotheses are drawn from symbolic interactionist theory, and we define sport motivation as the reasons that people give for participating in sport. The respondents are 301 University of Vienna student members of Austrian sport clubs and 397 college athletes drawn from three schools in Ohio. The results indicate (a) statistically significant main effects for ANOVA comparisons between competition and fitness motivation and the factors of gender and country, (b) a statistically significant two-way interaction between social motivation and gender and country, and (c) statistically significant Pearson product moment correlations between competition and fitness motives and the involvement of self in the sport role. Thus, we conclude that motivation for sport participation is likely to be influenced by the values of the sport organ...

Sport Identity and Motivation for Sport Participation: A Comparison Between American College Athletes and Austrian Student Sport Club Members

Photo-elicitation is a technique of interviewing in which photographs are used to stimulate and guide a discussion between the interviewer and the respondent. While much of the previous research done with the method has been conducted by anthropologists in foreign cultures, the technique is also well suited for the study of sports in America. This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of this method in comparison to standard interviewing, participant observation, and survey methods of studying sports. An illustrative portion is presented of a photo-elicitation interview conducted with an elite college wrestler about the violence, pain, and injury inherent in his sport, and the article concludes with a brief description of other sociology of sport topics currently being researched with the photo-elicitation interview.

A Visual Method of Studying Sports: The Photo-Elicitation Interview

This study examines the effects of winning a college letter on the sport identity of athletes participating at different levels of competition. The sample consisted of 276 male and 229 female athletes drawn from similar teams from three colleges in Ohio. The colleges were affiliated with the NCAA Divisions I and III and the NAIA. It was hypothesized that winning a letter would strengthen the sport identity, and that athletes participating at the higher level of competition would have the greater sport identity. Results confirmed both hypotheses. In addition, the sport identities of male and female athletes were compared. Importantly, no significant gender differences were found in the rating of sport importance, hours spent in sport, and the social relations obtained through sport. Men, however, showed greater competitive motivation and women greater identification with the role of athlete.

Timothy Jon Curry

Papers

Fraternal bonding in the locker room: a profeminist analysis of talk about competition and women.

Sport Identity Salience, Commitment, and the Involvement of Self in Role: Measurement Issues

Sport Identity and Motivation for Sport Participation: A Comparison Between American College Athletes and Austrian Student Sport Club Members

A Visual Method of Studying Sports: The Photo-Elicitation Interview

The effects of receiving a college letter on the sport identity.