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Student-Athletes? The Impact of Intercollegiate Sports Participation on Academic Outcomes

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  • P Wesley Routon

    (School of Business, Georgia Gwinnett College, 1000 University Center Lane, Lawrenceville, GA 30043 USA)

  • Jay K Walker

    (Department of Economics and Finance, 5795 Lewiston Rd., Niagara University, NY 14109 USA)

Abstract

As of 2011, there were over 444,000 college athletes playing for over 18,000 teams in the United States. Using data from a longitudinal survey of college students at over 400 institutions, we estimate the impact of participation in intercollegiate athletics on academic outcomes. We focus on whether the effects differ across sports and student demographics including gender, race, and pre-college academic ability. Among our results, we find participation in college sports has a small, negative effect on GPA. This effect is stronger among football and basketball players, stronger among males, weaker among top students, but does not differ across race.

Suggested Citation

  • P Wesley Routon & Jay K Walker, 2015. "Student-Athletes? The Impact of Intercollegiate Sports Participation on Academic Outcomes," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 41(4), pages 592-611, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:easeco:v:41:y:2015:i:4:p:592-611
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Daniel J. Henderson & Alexandre Olbrecht & Solomon W. Polachek, 2006. "Do Former College Athletes Earn More at Work?: A Nonparametric Assessment," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 41(3).
    2. Olbrecht, Alexandre, 2009. "Do academically deficient scholarship athletes earn higher wages subsequent to graduation?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 611-619, October.
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    5. Michael T. Maloney & Robert E. McCormick, 1993. "An Examination of the Role That Intercollegiate Athletic Participation Plays in Academic Achievement: Athletes' Feats in the Classroom," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 28(3), pages 555-570.
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    Cited by:

    1. Angxuan Chen & Huaiya Liu & Kam-Cheong Li & Jiyou Jia, 2023. "For Educational Inclusiveness: Design and Implementation of an Intelligent Tutoring System for Student-Athletes Based on Self-Determination Theory," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-12, October.

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