Abstract des Autors

A correlational study was conducted to explore the relationships between athletic identity, psychological adjustment to retirement, and the reason for retirement. Ninety-one athletes who had competed in either high school, college, or professional sports participated. We hypothesized that athletic identity would be negatively correlated with over-all life satisfaction and positively correlated with psychological difficulties surrounding the retirement event. Athletes who retired due to injury or inability to compete at a higher level should show stronger correlational patterns than those who had more control over their retirement. Results revealed that athletic identity was related to retirement difficulties but not to overall life satisfaction. Injury-related retirees had the most difficult adjustment. Correlations for athletes who were unable to move to the next level of competition were more similar to personal choice retirees than injury retirees. The implications of these correlational patterns are discussed. Verf.-Referat