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Project

The social identity of athletes in artistic swimming and gymnastics before and after retiring. Developing and testing interventions to assist their wellbeing and their mental health.

According to Torregrosa, Boixados, Valiente, and Cruz (2004), athletes have much better transition from being active athletes to retirement when they have already planned. The athletes’ perception of being relocated to sports rather than losing their athletic identity is very helpful for their mental health and their wellbeing. Especially, athletes who are forced to retire have more chances of facing challenges to a smooth transition to their post-sport life (Alfermann et al., 2004). The first aim of the research is to provide a systematic review on the current athletes’ retirement process in order to provide clear data about this topic. For this reason, articles of the past 10 years will be used. The second aim and the main hypothesis of this project is that the athletes who present a strong commitment to their athletic goals face challenges during their retirement process as their identities are disrupted. The athletes of different sports who are retired in the past 4 years will fill questionnaires regarding their social identity, their athletic identity and their transition to retirement. Also, possible differences according to the gender during retirement will be examined.   The process of retirement, according to the studies, includes an identity crisis and confusion during the process of retirement that should be supported. Thus, this research has as a third aim to provide further information on assisting the athletes’ wellbeing and mental health during this transition.

Date:22 Sep 2021 →  23 Sep 2022
Keywords:retirement, sports, athletes, wellbeing, mental health, artistic swimming, gymnastics
Disciplines:Psychology of sport and physical activity
Project type:PhD project