Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Brooks, DeAnne Davis

Titel

What do black women who were Division I elite track and field athletes identify as influencing post-competitive physical activity?

Ort / Verlag

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

Erscheinungsjahr

2010

Quelle

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The purpose of this study was to offer a deeply contextualized explanation of factors that influence post-competitive physical activity involvement among participants who are black, women, 25-45 years old, and former Division I elite sprinters, hurdlers, or jumpers. A study using exploratory methodology undergirded by a womanist epistemology was used to accomplish this goal. Based on data from four focus groups and a total of 17 participants, three categories of factors emerged as influencing post-competitive physical activity in this select group of women. Participants described track and field familiarities, social networks, and self-presentation concerns as influencing their activity. Several themes also emerged as influencing physical activity in this group. The themes were the mis-education of the athlete, contours of adult lives, and factors of difference. Collectively, the data suggested that participants simultaneously identify with multiple cultural categories and social groups, each with overlapping sets of values and expectations. These expectations influence participant’s post-competitive physical activity in multiple, diverse ways.