Five percent of undergraduate students in the U.S. have learning disabilities (NCLD, 2009). With 169,664 NCAA Division I student-athletes, it can be inferred that 8,500 student-athletes have learning disabilities; however, as many as 24% of student-athletes have been reported to have been diagnosed with learning disabilities (“College Teams Exploit,” 2009). For students with learning disabilities, sport participation can lead to increased self-esteem and feelings of self-worth (Kiluk et al., 2009). Although studies show sport participation can be beneficial for student-athletes with learning disabilities, there is a gap in the literature regarding how this populations is motivated to participate in sport. The purpose of this study was to (a) examine the sport participation motivations of NCAA Division I student-athletes with learning disabilities and (b) to compare the sport participation motivations of student-athletes with learning disabilities with the sport participation motivations of student-athletes who do not have learning disabilities. To provide a greater understanding of motivation, this study was informed by self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985).
Method:
An online questionnaire resulted in a response of 477 NCAA Division I student-athletes. The Sport Motivation Scale (SMS) was utilized to collect data (Brière et al., 1995; Pelletier et al., 1995). The SMS consists of 28 items that measure intrinsic, extrinsic, and amotivation (Pelletier et al., 1995). To address the research questions, descriptive statistics were calculated for each subscale of the SMS. Due to the fact that seven subscales of motivation were measured, a MANOVA was utilized.
Analysis/Results:
Four percent of the respondents reported having diagnosed learning disabilities. Preliminary results suggest student-athletes with learning disabilities are less intrinsically motivated as well as more extrinsically motivated and amotivated compared to their peers without learning disabilities.
Conclusions:
For student-athletes to be successful, understanding motivation is crucial. Motivation consists of internal and external factors that influence effort, persistence, and commitment (Martens & Webber, 2002; Vealey, 2005). Studies have revealed that intrinsically motivated athletes enjoy participating in sport (Brustad, 1988; Martens & Webber, 2002) and are likely to continue sport participation (Gill, Gross, & Huddleston, 1983; Martens & Webber, 2002), while extrinsically motivated athletes are more likely to discontinue sport participation (Lindner et al., 1991; Martens & Webber, 2002). Therefore, by understanding that student-athletes with learning disabilities are more extrinsically motivated and amotivated then their peers without learning disabilities, strategies can be developed to increase the intrinsic motivation of student-athletes with learning disabilities.