Woman and sport: academic background and its association with social support and self-esteem
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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v74.113796Keywords:
Academic background, self-esteem, social support, sport, womenAbstract
Introduction: The media and economic impact of women's sport has a different social impact than that of men. The professional future of female athletes may be influenced by several factors of interest.
Objective: To analyze the perceptions of female athletes to determine their academic training as a function of their social support and self-esteem.
Methodology: The participants were 243 Spanish professional or semi-professional sportswomen. The instruments used were the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support and a self-esteem test. In addition, personal and training data were collected from the athletes. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, Student's t test and ANOVA.
Results: The sportswomen had an intermediate level of education, and their education was high, but not related to the sport they practiced. The social support of other people influenced the branch of knowledge chosen for their studies, and if they had family support, they considered the establishment of agreements with companies as an alternative to other options for labor insertion. Self-esteem was higher in sportswomen who studied university degrees.
Discussion: Based on other studies, issues related to dual careers, perceived social support and self-esteem of female athletes, among others, were discussed
Conclusions: It seems necessary to address this reality from a gender perspective, delving into the barriers to labor insertion. Some practical implications are described, such as the development of programs that promote self-esteem and social support in order to favor the compatibility of studies and sports career, facilitating a change of mentality in society and in the clubs themselves.
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