Academic achievement in student athletes versus non-student athletes

The purpose of this study was to investigate academic achievement amongst student athletes and non-student athletes. Participants were undergraduates enrolled in a psychology course and were recruited via university subject pool. Students of both populations exhibited similar levels of academic achievement and academic motivation as well as study habits through online questionnaire. Grade point average (GPA) was used to assess academic achievement, while the Academic Motivation Scale-College Version (Vallerand et al., 1992) was utilized to assess academic motivation. Participants were also asked to report on how many hours they spend weekly on coursework. An independent samples t-test found significance in the difference between student-athletes and non student-athletes in the number of hours spent coursework. Student athletes as a group reported spending on average 8-11 hours per week on coursework, while non student-athletes reported spending on average 4-7 hours per week on coursework. Implications of the findings as well as further research are discussed.