Athletic Identity and its Relation to Athletic Life Quality in Professional Cricketers

Abstract

The present correlational study aimed to explore the relationship between Athletic Identity and Athletic Life Quality. The sample (N= 98) with the age range of M= 22.75, consisted of currently active professional Indian cricketers recruited through snowball sampling. The assessment measures included; the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS) Cieslak (2004) and the Athlete Life Quality Scale (ALQS) (Gentner, 2004). Correlational analysis revealed that there is a significant positive relation between athletic identity and athletic life quality. Its sub-components, which are Social Identity, Exclusivity and Negative Affectivity also showed significant relationship with Athletic life quality. Multiple Regression Analysis revealed that Exclusivity accounted for 53.4 % variance in the levels of athletic life quality. This indicates the importance of the social and cognitive identities of the athlete that have a significant impact on their levels of life satisfaction. The findings will facilitate sports psychologists to customize wellness frameworks that may improve psychosocial aspects of quality of life in athletes. Braun & Clark’s (2006) thematic analysis was used to analyze qualitative data analysis.