(a) To provide a state-of-the-art critical review of European dual career (DC) research (2015–2018, English language), (b) to position the current DC (psychological) research within the athlete ...career sport psychology discourse and within the European DC discourse, and (c) to identify research gaps and future challenges. These objectives were formulated after an appraisal of nine existing review-type papers contributed to the European DC discourse.
This review has been informed by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta Analyses (Moher, Liberati, Tetzlaff, Altman, & The PRISMA group, 2010) and recommendations on presenting results of the state-of-the-art critical review by Grant and Booth (2009).
Following an extensive literature search across several databases, 42 research papers were used for appraisal, synthesis, and critical analysis of the current DC research. Major tenets of the cultural praxis of athletes' careers (Stambulova & Ryba, 2013a,b; 2014) were used as a critical lens in the analysis.
DC research contributes to and connects the European DC discourse and the athlete career sport psychology discourse. DC in sport and work, DC “costs”, DC development environments, DC athletes' mental health and well-being, DC support and training of the support providers constitute the major gaps in current DC research. Filling these gaps presents future challenges for DC research to adequately support practice and policy making within the European DC discourse.
•Forty two peer-reviewed dual career (DC) articles from 2015–18 were reviewed.•Mapping and narrative syntheses revealed progress and gaps in current DC research.•Tenets of cultural praxis of athletes’ careers were used as a lens for critical reflections.•European DC discourse and athlete career (psychology) discourse were found to overlap.•DC term has been established, and a holistic lifespan perspective informed most studies.
This paper is a comprehensive update of the International Society of Sport Psychology (ISSP) Position Stand on career development and transitions of athletes issued a decade ago (Stambulova, ...Alfermann, Statler, & Côté,
2009
, ISSP Position Stand: Career development and transitions of athletes. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 7, 395-412.). A need for updating the 2009 Position Stand has grown out of the increasing inconsistency between its popularity and high citation, on the one hand, and its dated content that inadequately reflects the current status of athlete career research and assistance, on the other. During the last decade, sport psychology career scholars worked on structuring the athlete career knowledge and consolidating it into the athlete career (sport psychology) discourse (ACD). The aims of this paper are to: (1) update the decade-long evolution and describe the current structure of the ACD, (2) introduce recent trends in career development and transition research, (3) discuss emerging trends in career assistance, and (4) summarise in a set of postulates the current status and future challenges of the ACD.
Athletes' Careers Across Cultures is the first book of its kind to bring together a truly global spread of leading sports psychology career researchers and practitioners into one comprehensive ...resource. This extensive volume traces the evolution of athlete career research through a cultural lens and maps the complex topography of athletes' careers across national boundaries exploring how social and cultural discourses shape their development.
The area of athlete career development has traditionally been dominated by a Western perspective, an imbalance which has had a considerable influence on the shaping of career studies more generally. Stambulova and Ryba adopt a more culturally sensitive approach, offering a comprehensive analytical review of athlete career research and assistance in 19 different nations. The authors employ diverse theoretical, methodological and practical ideas to demonstrate how local knowledge enables a better understanding of the dynamics of cultural diversity within the field.
Athletes' Careers Across Cultures considers the 'cultural praxis' of athletes' careers as a practical implication of the cultural turn. As such it will stimulate the development of culturally situated career research and assistance and be an invaluable and internationally relevant resource for academics, professionals and students working in sport and exercise psychology.
The paper presents a national level Swedish project aimed at examining adolescent student-athletes' dual career experiences (including sport, studies, and private life) during their first year at ...national elite sport schools (Swedish abbreviation RIGs will be used) with a particular focus on development of their athletic and student identities. The developmental model of transitions faced by athletes (Wylleman & Lavallee, 2004) and the athletic career transition model (Stambulova, 2003) served as underlying frameworks.
A longitudinal mixed-method research design was used with autumn-to-spring quantitative and qualitative parts.
Sixteen year old student-athletes, representing 27 sports and 33 RIGs (n = 261 in the first and n = 250 in the second measurement), completed three quantitative instruments. Additionally, in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 participants.
Results revealed (a) significant changes in the participants' transition/adaptation variables from the first to the second measurement accompanied by rather high perceived quality of adjustment at RIG both at the beginning and at the end of the educational year; (b) significant contributions of the transition variables to the perceived quality of adjustment with personal resources as a key predictor; (c) significantly higher athletic than student identity in both quantitative measurements, but with inter- and intra-individual differences with regard to balancing the two shown by the qualitative data.
The study contributes to deeper understanding of dual career experiences of Swedish adolescent athletes; the authors provide recommendations for psychological dual career support services at RIGs and outline future research in the Swedish dual career model.
•Dual career of Swedish athletes at national elite sport schools (RIGs) is examined.•Definition of an optimal dual career balance is suggested.•Recommendations are provided in regards to dual career support services at RIGs.•The Swedish dual career model is proposed as an agenda for future research.
Mental health is a major resource for athletes in relation to their performance and development. Concurrently, athletes experience additional mental health risk factors compared to non-athletic ...population, such as high training loads, tough competitions, and a stressful lifestyle. Contemporary statistics demonstrate a substantial growth in athletes' mental health-related problems, such as concussion, overtraining, and identity crisis. Therefore, the International Society of Sport Psychology through this Position Stand provides support to sport psychology researchers, practitioners, sport participants, and stakeholders in understanding: (a) mental health phenomenon based on continuum-type models outlining mental illness (prevalence vs. absence) and mental health in association with peak performance, (b) major findings of research dealing with athletes' performance, career and personal (e.g. identity) development in relation to mental health issues, and (c) interventions aimed at monitoring and maintaining athletes' mental health as well as preventing various forms of mental ill-being. Five major sections reflect the logic outlined above (i.e. from definitions and theories to research and practice), complemented by 10 postulates summarising the International Society of Sport Psychology message intended to spur further discussions on how to make athletes healthier and, thus, more resourceful for (and through) sport.
In this review article, a content area of athlete career in sport psychology is analyzed through the cultural lens: that is, through paradigmatic perspectives of cross-cultural psychology, cultural ...psychology, and cultural studies. Based on previous review papers, but mainly on the chapters of the anthology Athletes' Careers across Cultures, we identified three dominant (North American, Australian, and European) and two emerging (Asian and South American) cultural discourses in the career topic. These discourses are characterized by research foci, theoretical frameworks, and career assistance programs in action. Our critical analysis of career research and assistance around the world further indicates a need for more contextualized and culturally competent career projects, which blend theory/research, applied work, and lived culture into cultural praxis. To satisfy this need, a new paradigm termed cultural praxis of athletes' careers is suggested. In conclusion, we emphasize the importance of review papers in negotiating emerging terminology, values, principles, and approaches underlying the career topic, and share some ideas for future reviews in career research and assistance.
In today's uncertain, fluid job market, transnational mobility has intensified. Though the concept of cultural transition is increasingly used in sport and career research, insight into the processes ...of how individuals produce their own development through work and relationships in shifting cultural patterns of meaning remains limited. The transnational industry of sports, in which athletes' psychological adjustment to cultural transitions has implications for both performance and meaningful life, serves as a backdrop for this article. This study applied the life story method to interviews with 15 professional and semi-professional athletes, focusing particularly on the cultural transition aspect of their transnational athletic careers. The aims of the study were to identify the developmental tasks of cultural transitions and strategies/mechanisms through which cultural transitions were enacted. Three underlying mechanisms of the transition process that assisted athletic career adaptability were social repositioning, negotiation of cultural practices, and meaning reconstruction. Based on the data analyses, a temporal model of cultural transition is proposed. The results of this research provide professionals working in the fields of career counseling and migrant support with a content framework for enhancing migrant workers' adaptabilities and psychological wellbeing.
Athletes frequently describe the junior-to-senior transition (JST) as the most difficult within-career transition, and many athletes have acknowledged that they failed to cope well with it. Athletes' ...development in the JST is influenced by narratives existing within relevant contexts and settings. This study served as a follow-up to the quantitative longitudinal study to gain a deeper understanding of individual JST paths through a qualitative narrative approach. The aim was to explore 2 team sport athletes' (John, the football player, and Anna, the basketball player) JST pathways, emphasizing psychosocial factors that were perceived as facilitating and debilitating the process. Narrative type interviews were conducted, and the holistic-form structural analysis was used. Through their narratives, John and Anna reconstructed their JST paths, attaching meanings to certain events, recounting the people involved, and making personal reflections. John had a performance and family narrative and Anna had an enjoyment and relationship narrative. They perceived their key facilitating persons to be their family members and teammates. The debilitating factors were some coaches' behaviors. At the time of this study, John and Anna had already terminated their athletic careers and had refocused on getting an education. Although they did not reach elite senior levels in their sports, they found their athletic careers to be meaningful life experiences.
Lay Summary: The aim was to explore two team sport athletes' junior-to-senior transition (JST) pathways, emphasizing psychosocial factors involved in the transition process. The findings revealed two narratives. John (football player) storied his JST as a performance and family narrative and Anna (basketball player) as an enjoyment and relationship narrative.
There are as many careers with various pathways as there are athletes, and the interest in the junior-to-senior transition (JST) stems from its particular importance for athletes' lives when aiming ...for the senior elite levels of their sports. This study is a follow-up of the quantitative longitudinal study that investigated the JST process in Swedish sport club athletes. The aim of this study was to explore two athletes' (pseudonyms Erik, the swimmer, and Jessika, the tennis player) JST transition pathways, emphasising psychosocial factors that were perceived as facilitating and debilitating the transition process. Narrative-type interviews were conducted, and the stories were analysed using the holistic-form structural analysis. The analysis provided a central storyline (performance narrative) that is similar for both athletes, and two side storylines: Erik's effort and relationship narrative and Jessika's injury and reorientation narrative. They shared psychosocial factors that were perceived as facilitating the transition process, including family, coaches and sport club environment. For Erik, the debilitating factors were the negative changes in the group and a poor relationship with the new coach. The debilitating factors that influenced Jessika's JST were the decrease/loss of financial support and the challenge of facing younger opponents against whom she felt she shouldn't lose when making a comeback after an injury. After the JST, both Erik and Jessika changed their tracks in life, terminated their athletic careers and focused on pursuing higher education qualifications.
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