Do Team Sports Matter for Black Males?

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore Black males’ participation in team and individual sports at the high school level and the differential direct, indirect, and total effects on their college attendance using a large, nationally representative, longitudinal database (ELS: 2002). Previous studies (e.g. ; ) have claimed that the type of sport makes a significant difference in student outcomes such as social adjustment and social self-efficacy. While such outcomes may indirectly affect the college attendance behaviors of participants, it was not the goal of such studies to make such connections. This study, however, endeavors to make explicit the effect, if any, that the type of sport has on college attendance within the context of previously noted antecedents (e.g. socioeconomic status, academic achievement, and student educational expectations) to educational attainment. Two different hypotheses have emerged from the literature with regard to sports participation in general: 1) Sport-impedes-mobility and 2) Sport-enhances-mobility ().