A qualitative exploratory study of the experiences of post-collegiate women’s wrestlers in the United States Open Access
Rigert, Payton (Spring 2021)
Abstract
Background: Sports participation for women continues to increase. One of the fastest-growing sports, both in high school and college, is women’s wrestling. In 2020, Collegiate women’s wrestling received NCAA Emerging Sport Status after approval from Division 2, Division 3 and Division 1 programs. With 59 collegiate varsity programs already in place and more being added every day, the research on women who wrestle needs to be reflected in this growth ("List of Colleges with Women’s Wrestling Programs," 2020) This study explores the perceptions of women college wrestlers and the impact of the sport on their post-collegiate transition. The intersection of college sport’s career, weight management, gender, and wrestling has yet to be studied, even though women who fit into all these categories may be at a greater risk for decreased mobility, decreased body-image satisfaction, and lack of preparedness entering the workforce.
Methods: This is a qualitative study conducted in 2020. Twenty participants were recruited for 30-to-60-minute semi-structured interviews from over 15 different Universities from across the US and one Canadian institution. Code-based analysis was conducted, as well as cross comparison of codes to generate themes.
Results: Three main themes emerged from the data: identity, body image, and intrinsic motivation. The theme of identity encompassed how the participant’s experiences as a women wrestler demonstrated how important sports participation is tied to their self-perception and often social support. Body image encompassed how participants visualized or disused their bodies post-college. Intrinsic motivation encapsulated the internal drive that powered participant’s actions and willingness to complete tasks post-college wrestling career.
Conclusion: The findings from this study support that the extensive demands of sport’s careers often lead to limited ability to explore identity, which can make the transition to post-college life difficult. This may have led to careers and continued participation in the wrestling community with the majority of participants still involved (n=15, 75%). Weight gain after the participants careers ended lead to a negative self-perception of body image. Social support played a large role in continued exercise and positive behaviors.
Table of Contents
Chapter I: Introduction 9
Problem Statement 10
Purpose Statement of this Qualitative Study 11
Research Questions 11
Chapter II: Review of the Literature 13
Women in Sports 13
Gender 14
Benefits of Participating in Collegiate Sports 15
Wrestling Context 16
Weight Management 18
Readiness for after Sports 19
Theory-Based Approach for Understanding the Experiences of Post- collegiate Women’s Wrestlers 20
Justification for this thesis project 22
Chapter III: Student Contributions 23
Methods 23
Data Collection 25
Data Analyses 25
Chapter IV Journal Article 28
Introduction 29
Methods 37
Data Collection 38
Data Coding and Analysis 39
Ethics 41
Results 41
Discussion 50
Future Research 52
Limitations 53
Conclusion 53
Disclosure statement 55
Funding 55
Chapter V: Public Health Implications 56
Call for Women’s Wrestling and Post-College Athlete Research 56
Implications for Coaching Women’s Wrestling 56
Future Research 58
Conclusion 58
References 61
Appendix 66
About this Master's Thesis
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