Achievement Motivation and Academic Misconduct of Collegiate Student-Athletes

• In Event: Roundtable Session 21
  In Roundtable Session: Moral Education, Behavior, and Reasoning: Academic Misconduct and Victimization

Abstract

This study sought to contribute to the understanding of the problem of academic dishonesty among collegiate varsity student-athletes (N = 1151, 55.5% males) by exploring the relationships between academic dishonesty and achievement motivation after controlling for academic and athletic identity and gender. Overall, 72.2% of student-athletes admitted to engaging in at least one form of academic dishonesty once or more during an academic year. The results indicated that self-reported academic dishonesty was negatively predicted by mastery approach goal orientation and task-orientation, while positively predicted by ego-orientation. Gender differences were found with male athletes reporting engagement in cheating more frequently than females. However, males with stronger athletic identity reported less cheating. Significance of the study, limitations, and future research are addressed.

Author

• Mariya Yukhymenko, California State University - Fresno