Examining social identity components of Japanese student-athletes

Maintaining an appropriate balance between athletics and academic is integral for the success of student-athletes. The purpose of this study was to examine social identity components in Japanese collegiate student-athletes by investigating the relationship between academic-athletic identification and student-athletes’ identity. Participants were 467 Japanese elite collegiate student-athletes (287 males, 180 females; M age = 19.57, SD = 1.11). The Japanese version of the Academic Athletic Identity Scale (AAIS-J) was adopted to assess the components of student-athletes’ identity. The Baller Identity Measurement Scale for student-athletes (BIMS) was translated into Japanese using the back-translation method to assess student-athletes’ identity. The results of this study indicated that athletic identity strongly affected the formation of student-athletes’ identity; however, academic identity did not affect the formation of student-athletes’ identity. In conclusion, student-athletes have a strong awareness of their athletic activities but a lower consciousness of their academic work. Assuming that the students' main responsibility is academics, it is important to reconsider the current way of collegiate sports in Japan.