Elmer Spreitzer

Interscholastic Athletics and Educational Expectations.

This paper represents a replication and extension of a study reported by Rehberg and Schafer in 1968. Our findings reproduce the original study in showing that the relationship between athletic participation and higher educational goals is not eliminated when controlling for parental SES, parental academic encouragement, and student grade average. The extension of the original study involves introducing perceived peer status and school value climate as intervening variables between athletic involvement and educational expectations.

Family Influence and Involvement in Sports

Abstract The purpose of this study was threefold: (1) to operationalize sports involvement into behavioral, affective, and cognitive dimensions; (2) to replicate previous studies where age, education, occupation, and sex were used as correlates of participation in sports; and (3) to extend previous research by analyzing family influence as a predictor of sports involvement. Data for the study were collected by a mailed questionnaire to a systematic probability sample drawn from the City Directory of Toledo, Ohio. Findings of the study, with sex as the control variable, indicated the value of operationalizing sports involvement into component dimensions. Replication of previous studies with the more refined indicators of involvement suggest the need to modify previous findings. The family influence variables, including both the family of orientation and procreation, were predictive of sports involvement for both sexes.

Socialization into Sport: An Exploratory Path Analysis

Abstract This paper formulates a model of the socialization process by which persons become involved in sports. The model focuses on interpersonal influences within both the family of orientation and that of procreation. Data were collected from a random sample of the adult population in a mid-western metropolitan area. The model was able to account for approximately one-half of the variance in sports involvement among the persons included in the sample.

Identity and Commitment to the Teacher Role.

S ociologists in the United States show an increasing interest in methods of teaching, curricular innovations, and resources for teaching. These concerns will be of little consequence, however, if the individual instructor lacks a commitment to the teaching role. Drawing upon the framework of symbolic interactionism, we highlight several elements of commitment with the expectation that this understanding may in turn be used to encourage a greater commitment to the role of teacher. The concept of commitment is amenable to analysis with a symbolic interactionist framework. Embedded within interactionism are three foci: Human beings act toward things on the basis of subjective meanings; the meanings of such things are derived from social interaction; and these meanings are handled in, and modified through, an interpretive process in coping with objects (Blumer, 1969: 2).

The relative effects of health and income on life satisfaction.

The relative effects of health and income on life satisfaction were analyzed using data collected in three recent national surveys. Financial situation was a slightly stronger predictor of life satisfaction for persons under age sixty-five, whereas health condition had a stronger impact on the life satisfaction of persons over age sixty-four. An attempt was made to quantify the relative impact of health and income on life satisfaction through an analysis of conjoint influence with contingency tables.

Correlates of Participation in Adult Recreational Sports.

ABSTRACTThis study basically involves an analysis of factors associated with physical activity as a lifelong leisure activity. The ultimate objective of this type of research is to identify variabl...

Socialization Comparisons of Adolescent Female Athletes and Musicians

Abstract The purpose of this paper was to compare the social background characteristics and psychological attributes of high school girls who were participating in interscholastic athletics and music (band or orchestra). The findings showed a clear correlation between selective parental encouragement and participation in these two extracurricular activities. Moreover, the findings showed no evidence of psychological stress among the female athletes in comparison to the musicians.

Work Orientation, Meaning of Leisure and Mental Health

ABSTRACTThis paper is focused on the subjective meanings attached to leisure activities. The interest, then, is on the affective or attitudinal level rather than overt leisure behavior forms. This ...

Attitudes of the aged toward nontraditional sexual behavior

Age as a correlate of attitudes toward nontraditional sexual behavior is explored. The data were drawn from a United States national probability sample. Subgroup comparisons were made between two age cohorts — respondents over and under 65. Sexual attitudes were measured toward premarital sexual relations, extramarital sexual relations, and homosexuality. Older respondents held the most conservative sexual attitudes. However, the background variables of sex, social status, church attendance, marital status, and parenthood were predictors of sexual attitudes for both age strata. The findings indicate individual variations among the aged with the likelihood of a greater range of differences in the future.

Age, marital status, and labor force participation as related to life satisfaction

This paper replicates and extends a survey research tradition concerning correlates of life satisfaction. The focus is on sex roles, marital status, and labor force participation as predictors of life satisfaction. The data were obtained from a 1973 nationwide, probability-sample survey of the United States population. Cross-tabulations were used as the mode of statistical analysis. Several significant associations were observed between the independent and dependent variables. One of the findings showed that the impact of employment status on the life satisfaction of women varies with level of education.