Coaching, Advising, and Social Media Use

Purpose Statement for The Wooster Student-Athletes Experience: Coaching, Advising, and Social Media Use

Student-athletes have been an integral aspect of higher education at several institutions. This study focuses on student athletes and their experiences by analyzing coaching behaviors, student and academic advisor relationships, and social media uses and gratifications. The study aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the student-athlete experience at The College of Wooster. Through studying these elements, readers will better understand the experiences of student-athletes at small, liberal arts institutions.

Instrument

The data collection was completed through a 42-item electronic survey. The survey was distributed through an email list. The participants were gathered in groups of five by examining The College of Wooster’s athletic rosters. The survey measured coaching practices, academic advisor experiences, and the uses and gratifications of social media.

The first concept that was measured was coaching practices. The survey utilized items from a study conducted by Chelladurai and Saleh and reported in their article, Leadership Scale for Sport (Chelladurai & Saleh, 1980). The measure included seventeen, seven-point Likert items and two nominal questions. The Likert scales included items that addressed training and instruction, democratic and autocratic behavior, social support, and positive feedback. For example, one of the social support items used in the measure reads as follows: “My coach looks out for the personal welfare of the athletes” (Chelladurai & Saleh, 1980). The nominal items for this section were used to gather additional information about the participants. These items asked participants what varsity sport they play at the College and how long they have played the aforementioned sport.

Academic advisor experiences were the second measure considered in the study. This section of the survey included eight Likert items and four nominal items. The score-based questions were gathered from Gary Creasey, Pat Jarvis, and Elyse Knapcik’s publication, A Measure to Assess Student-Instructor Relationships (2009). The Likert items addressed two concepts: instructor connectedness and instructor anxiety. Instructor connectedness analyzes the positive relationship between one’s academic advisor and themselves. Below is an example of an item used on the survey to measure instructor connectedness: “The instructor is concerned with the needs of their student” (Creasey et al., 2009). Inversely, instructor anxiety creates friction between the student and advisor, often causing emotional distress and mistrust. For instance, the measure utilized the following item to gauge instructor anxiety: “This instructor makes me doubt myself” (Creasey et al., 2009). Similar to the coaching items, the four nominal items were employed for additional information gathering about the participants. The questions included items that addressed the participants’ high school education and their current College of Wooster experience.

The third concept measured in the survey was the various uses of social media by students and the gratification received from it. This comprised the briefest section of the survey. It only included two nominal items and six Likert score-type items. The score-type items observed three concepts of uses and gratifications: entertainment, information, and escape. These items were included in a chapter of Communication Research Methods: A Source Book (“Television Viewing Motives Scale,” 1994). The following is an example of an included item analyzing the entertainment value of social media: “It [Social media] entertains me.” The nominal items addressed the uses of social media. The first item asked the participant about their preferred social media platform. The second item addressed the daily time devoted to social media.

The survey also included several demographic items. These items were reserved for the final section of the survey and included questions about the participant’s class year, ethnicity, and gender.

Procedures

I recruited participants by mass emailing student-athletes on The College of Wooster campus and provided them with a link to my survey. While collecting participants, I attempted to include an equal amount of male and female athletes. I utilized online rosters to profile these participants. I chose five individuals from each of the rosters to include in my email list. At the end of this process, my measure had eight separate varsity teams represented in the survey. In addition, I posted a follow-up email to collect more data. Unfortunately, I still did not acquire enough data through the two emails. I utilized the connivence collection method to gather the remainder of my results in my third attempt (Wrench, et al., 2019).

Sample

Participants were asked demographic questions for descriptive purposes that included gender, ethnicity, participation in a sport, and class year. Out of the participants, 2 (9.5%) were first years, 4 (19%) were sophomores, 7 (33.3%) were juniors, and 7 (33.3%) were seniors. 17 (85.7%) of the participants were White or European American and 2 (9.5%) of the participants identified as Black or African American. The gender pool of the participants consisted of 7 (33.3%) males, 11 (57.1%) females, and 1 (4.8%) non-answer. The sports played included 2 (9.5%) men’s basketball players, 1 (4.8%) cheerleader, 2 (9.5%) men’s cross-country runners, 1 (4.8%) women’s cross-country runner, 2 (9.5%) football players, 2 (9.5%) women’s golf players, 1 (4.8%) men’s lacrosse player, 3 (14.3%) women’s soccer players, 5 (23.8%) women’s swimmers and divers, and 1 (4.8%) volleyball player.

Reliabilities

Three concepts were measured utilizing various Likert scale items. The student-instructor relationship section analyzes the positive and negative interactions between a student and their academic advisor. The survey utilized the student’s anxiety or connectedness with their advisor to measure the student-instructor relationship. Coach Leadership measures the different styles of leadership enacted by the head coach of a varsity team. This concept was separated into five underlying topics: training and instruction, democratic behavior, autocratic behavior, social support, and positive feedback. The Social Media Motives measure the uses and gratifications of social media usage by college students. Three sub-concepts, entertainment, information, and escape were included in this measure. Composite scores were produced through careful reliability measurements of these three concepts. All three concepts were measured using a seven-point scale where higher scores represented higher agreement with the provided prompts. See Table 1 below for reliability information and descriptive statistics for the composite scores. 

Table 1

Reliability Analyses - Coaching

Concepts                                             Items                                       Alpha              M         SD      

Coaching

Training and Instruction         4.3, 4.6, 4.7                             .752                 5.56     .811

Democratic Behavior              5.1, 5.5, 5.6, 5.9                      .754                 5.06     1.18

Autocratic Behavior               5.2, 5.4, 5.8                             .776                 3.42     1.16

Social Support                        4.5, 4.8, 5.3, 5.7                      .613                 5.38     .651

Positive Feedback                   4.2, 4.4                                    .717                 5.81     .887

Student-Instructor

Instructor Connectedness        8.1, 8.3, 8.5, 8.7                       .765                 5.65     .833

Instructor Anxiety                   8.2, 8.4, 8.6                             .916                 2.87     1.59

Social Media

Entertainment                         13.1, 13.3                                 .920                 5.58     1.32

Information                             13.2, 13.6                                .678                 4.40     1.47

            Escape                          13.4, 13.5                             .816                 4.40     1.85    

Student-athletes provided largely positive feedback about their coaches. Positive Feedback scored the highest among the tested composites. Additionally, high levels of collaboration and communication between coaches and athletes were observed. Coaches may feel more inclined to connect to their team due to the smaller size of the campus. The lower population of students at the college encourages interactions between players and coaches. Moreover, roster sizes are smaller in comparison to large university teams, allowing for student-athletes to connect with their coaches on a personal level.

Similarly to coaches, faculty received positive feedback regarding student connectedness. The College of Wooster encourages student-faculty relations through their curriculum. Students are required to meet with their academic advisor prior to class registration for a semester. This aspect allows for younger students to develop relationships with their advisors. The Independent Study (I.S.) is a major factor driving student-faculty connectedness. Students undergo a series of 1-on-1 meetings with their advisor throughout their junior and senior year to complete their undergraduate research.

Student athletes also presented higher results for using social media as entertainment. Students might use social media for entertainment due to its easy, fast-paced consumption. Furthermore, students might utilize more interactive forms of media, such as video games or streaming services, for escapism. Social interaction could have also tested lower due to the prevalence of texting among young adults.

Men’s and Women’s Athletes on College-Athlete Experience

The study sought to determine if there is a difference between male athletes (n = 7) and female athletes (n = 13) on their student-athlete experience. The study utilized six separate statistical items to complete the measure. Four of these measures – democratic behavior, positive feedback, social support, and autocratic behavior – analyzed behavior shown by the athlete’s head coach. The remaining measures analyzed student-athletes’ connectedness and anxiety caused by their academic advisor. These composites were measured through several seven-point Likert scale items (See Table 2).

Table 2

Coaching Behaviors and Advisor Relationships of Men’s and Women’s Athletes

______________________________________________________________________________

                                                 Male Athletes              Female Athletes

College-Athlete Experience   M         SD                   M         SD                   t           df            p      

Democratic Behavior              4.75     1.38                 5.25     1.11                 .865     17          .973

Positive Feedback                   5.07     1.06                 6.19     .522                 3.21     18          .371

Social Support                        5.32     .826                 5.42     .597                 .292     17          .172

Autocratic Behavior               3.86     1.05                 3.11     1.21                 1.36     17          .822

Instructor Connectedness       5.54     1.05                 5.75     .754                 .519     17          .395

Instructor Anxiety                   2.90     1.51                 2.75     1.72                 1.97     17          .724  

According to the table, no significant difference exists between coaching styles in men’s and women’s sports. Wooster’s coaches undergo the same training under the Athletic Department. Thus, coaches would use similar behaviors to communicate with their athletes. Additionally, men’s and women’s athletes did not show a significant difference between instructor connectedness and instructor anxiety. All Wooster students receive academic advisors during their first year. Wooster’s curriculum encourages interaction between the faculty and students throughout their college experience. Therefore, students receive a similar advisor experience.

Although statistically insignificant, men’s and women’s teams seem to have slightly differing levels of democratic and autocratic behavior. Men’s coaches appear to have a lower level of democratic behavior than their female colleagues. Moreover, men’s coaches utilize more autocratic behavior than women’s coaches. This action could be encouraged by masculine environments within coaching and team culture. Men’s teams also experienced lower levels of positive feedback than women’s teams. The increase in masculine, autocratic behavior could cause positive feedback to drop lower in comparison to women’s teams.

Both men’s and women’s athletes had above-average means in connectedness levels with their academic advisor. This finding shows that all students at Wooster receive a similar, overall positive experience with their advisor. The positive perception of staff and faculty could be caused through open door policies and encouragement to meet with mentors individually. Coaches have glass doors to allow students to see when their coaches are in their office and available. Professors follow a similar behavior by opening doors for visitors and often listing office hours in accessible areas. These practices lead to individualized attention for Wooster student-athletes which could result in a more positive outlook of coaches and faculty.

STEM and Non-STEM Majors on Academic Advisor Experience

A similar method was utilized to determine any difference between STEM (n = 8) and non-STEM students (n = 12) on their experience with their academic advisors. STEM majors also included members of the Wooster Business and Economics Departments due to their heavy use of math and statistics. Non-STEM majors included students who focus on the humanities and social sciences. Fine arts was a listed category, but no participant recorded their involvement in that study. The measure analyzed students’ instructor connectedness and anxiety through several Likert-scale items (See Table 3).

Table 3

Advisor Connectedness and Anxiety Between STEM and Non-STEM Majors

______________________________________________________________________________

                                                 Non-STEM Majors     STEM Majors

Student Experiences               M         SD                   M         SD                   t           df            p      

Instructor Connectedness       5.97     .505                 5.15     1.01                 2.42     18          .007

Instructor Anxiety                   2.72     1.56                 3.08     1.71                 .488     18          .894  

According to the table, a significant difference in instructor connectedness was measured between STEM and non-STEM majors. Non-STEM majors have a stronger connectedness value possibly due to the smaller sizes of the departments. Several of Wooster’s humanities and social science departments are relatively small compared to larger STEM departments. This difference forces non-STEM majors to interact more frequently with their department faculty than STEM students. Additionally, the smaller humanities and social science departments enable students to build stronger relationships with their academic advisors because of the increased familiarity. Inversely, STEM majors participate in larger classes, allowing for less individual attention inside of the classroom. The larger number of students also means academic advisors undertake more students than in other majors, which may lead to less individualized attention and course guidance.

Interestingly, STEM and non-STEM majors do not have a significant difference with instructor anxiety. However, STEM majors appear to have a higher mean of anxiety than non-STEM majors. The lack of instructor connectedness could cause additional stress between academic advisors and STEM majors. Additionally, several STEM majors are pursuing careers that require graduate education. Thus, STEM students are more likely to worry about their undergraduate grades which will impact their ability to secure acceptance to a top-tier graduate program. This action could create a more stressful experience for STEM majors when working with their advisors. Despite this speculation, the lack of significance aligns with the positive perception of faculty and academic advisors shared across the study.

Hours on Social Media

ANOVA regression was used to determine if there is a difference between time spent on social media and the uses and gratifications social media. The following composites were utilized to measure the amount of time participants used social media: less than an hour (n=7), 1-2 hours (n=6) and 3+ hours (n=7). The uses and gratifications composites, entertainment, information, and escape, were measured using a seven-point Likert scale. These measures were provided by B.S. Greenburg’s (1994) Television Viewing Motives Scale (See Table 4).

Table 4

Time on Social Media Uses and Gratifications

                                    > 1 Hour          1-2 Hours        3+ Hours        

Uses and Grats            M (SD)            M (SD)            M (SD)            F            dfs          p                  

Entertainment             4.86 (1.80)      6.08 (.376)      5.86 (1.11)     1.77     2, 17    .200

Information                 3.71 (1.44)      4.92 (1.28)      4.64 (1.60)     1.25     2, 17    .311

Escape                         3.71 (1.80)      4.42 (1.74)      5.07 (1.99)      .939     2,17     .410                

According to my findings, no significant difference was discovered across the groups between time spent on social media and reported uses and gratifications of social media. Thus, students’ usage of social media remained consistent regardless of the amount of time they spent on their chosen platform. This finding aligns with Greenburg’s analysis. According to Greenburg, “different viewing motives relate predictability to other variables” (“Television Viewing Motives Scale,” 1994, p. 373). Therefore, each use and gratification variable is directly related to each other and cannot be differentiated.

Although it is not statistically significant, entertainment presented the highest mean scores among the composites. The entertainment mean was especially high in the 1–2-hour category. This finding suggests that students receive greater immediacy of media gratification through periodical use of social media. The short format of modern media allows for increased consumption during periodical use, too. Every major social media platform I included in my survey (except for WhatsApp) has a fast-paced media consumption option. Only one of my participants listed WhatsApp as their primary social media platform. The majority of the participants chose Instagram as their primary social media platform, with Snapchat and Tik Tok following. Each of these platforms promotes fast-paced media that is easy to consume with intermediate use.
References

Chelladurai, P., & Saleh, S. D. (1980). Dimensions of leader behavior in sports: Development of a leadership scale. Journal of Sport Psychology, 2(1), 34–45.

Creasey, G., Jarvis, P., & Knapcik, E. (2009). A Measure to Assess Student-Instructor Relationships. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 3(2). https://doi.org/10.20429/ijsotl.2009.030214

Huff, C.-M. (2019). Coaching Styles, Athletes’ Needs Satisfaction, and Identity: An Analysis of Athlete-Coach Relationship. 83. Margaret and Herman Brown Library.

Television Viewing Motives Scale. (1994). In R. Rubin, P. Palmgreen, & H. Sypher, Communication Research Methods: A Source Book (pp. 374–376). Routledge.

Wrench, J. S., Thomas-Maddox, C., & Richmond, V. P. (2018). Quantitative Research Methods for Communication: A Hands-On Approach (4th edition). Oxford University Press.