School Engagement, Academic Self-Concept, Parental Support, and Academic Readiness in Finnish Adolescent Athletes and Non-Athletes

Background: In Scandinavian countries adolescent athletes are expected not only to combine education with sports, but also to succeed in school to facilitate future study options. While athletes recognize the importance of education, still most tend to invest greater amounts of energy and time in sport than education. A simultaneous investment in both sports and school, Dual Career (DC), is demanding. (O´Neill, Allen & Calder, 2013). Previous DC studies have mainly focused on adolescent athletes´ development in the sport context. However, in education research targeting non-athletes, there has been a growing interest in the association between psychoeducational factors, including academic self-concept and motivation for learning, and academic success. Further, school engagement has been found to be a vital factor among non-athletes as it affects academic self-concept and academic success. According to Bronfenbrenner´s Bioecological Theory an individual’s school engagement develops in the interplay between environmental and personal factors (Bronfenbrenner, 1975;1979).

Aims: The existing body of education research hints that academic self-concept, academic preparedness, school engagement and family support are associated with one another and that these relationships could be bidirectional. Therefore, this study aims to determine how academic readiness, academic self-concept and parental support for learning are related to school engagement in athletes and non-athletes.

Methods: This study draws on data collected in connection to a new Finnish national Dual Career project. Athletes (N=311) and non-athletes (N=290) from 15 sports-oriented lower secondary schools answered self-report questionnaires at the beginning of 7^th grade. A multigroup structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied to explore measurement invariance within factors and between athletes and non-athletes in academic preparedness, academic self-concept, and family support for learning in school, in relation to school engagement.

Results: The results showed that school engagement was positively associated with academic self-concept, family support for learning and academic readiness among athletes and non-athletes. Furthermore, academic self-concept partly mediated the effects of academic readiness on school engagement in both groups. Finally, athletes had higher perceived academic readiness and parental support for learning in lower secondary school than non-athletes.

Discussion and Conclusions: According to the results, athletes had higher perceived academic readiness and parental support for learning than non-athletes at the beginning of 7^th grade. Similar associations were found between school engagement and academic self-concept as well as family support for learning among athletes and non-athletes. In sum, athletes are as prepared and engaged in school as their non-athlete counterparts. However, declining figures in school engagement during lower secondary school is a well-known phenomenon in the Western world. Therefore, parents to young athletes should be aware of their vital role as motivators to school as the demands of sport and school increase in middle adolescence.