Student-Athletes’ Motivation and Identity: Variation Among Brazilian and Portuguese University Student-Athletes

Abstract

This study examined the variation of student-athletes' identity and motivation across Portuguese and Brazilian universities, accounting for variation in gender, student-athletes' training hours per week, sports level, student-athletes status within each university, and university type. We initially established the validity of the Baller Identity Measurement Scale questionnaire and the Student-Athletes' Motivation toward Sports and Academics Questionnaire-based observations among 441 Brazilian and Portuguese student-athletes. Then, the validated version of the questionnaires was applied to a total sample of 765 student-athletes from Brazil (n= 568) and Portugal (n = 197). We further considered individual (hours of training and student-athlete status) and contextual characteristics (university type and country). Multilevel regression and poststratification were used to estimate each student-athlete identity and motivation as a function of his or her individual and contextual characteristics. Overall, the predictions showed that cultural (country), academic (type of university), and athletic (training hours) context likely have a substantial influence on student-athletes' identity and motivation.