Supervisors info:
Ψυχουντάκη Μαρία, Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια, ΤΕΦΑΑ, ΕΚΠΑ
Καρτερολιώτης Κωνσταντίνος, Καθηγητής, ΤΕΦΑΑ, ΕΚΠΑ
Σταύρου Νεκτάριος, Λέκτορας, ΤΕΦΑΑ, ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
Athletic retirement was viewed not only as a single event but as a transitional process involving the (a) pre-conditions of retirement (b) transitional period and (c) consequences of the transition. The main object of the present study was to describe the athletic retirement of elite Greek athletes in the previous terms. For this purpose, elite athletes from Greece (n = 115) age from 25-55 years old (Μ = 37.01, SD = 5.12), were selected by name (purposeful sampling) (Thomas & Nelson, 2003) and described in retrospect their experience leaving competitive sports through the Retirement from Sports Survey (Alfermann, Stambulova, & Zemaityte, 2004), the Trait Anxiety Inventory (Κάκκος, Εκκεκάκης, & Ζέρβας, 1991; Spielberger, Gorsuch, Lushere, Vagg, & Jacobs, 1983) and the Social Diserability Inventory (Crowne & Marlowe, 1960; Ψυχουντάκη, Εκκεκάκης, & Ζέρβας, 1993). Descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test, chi square test, correlations, one-way ANOVA-analysis of variance were used for the statistical analysis.
Results showed that retirement plans, voluntary career termination, psychological support, accepting career termination, satisfaction from athletic career, low athletic identity during athletic career and low trait anxiety helps athletes in the transitional period and in the quality of life nowadays. On the contrary, gender, financial support, educational and athletic level seems having a neutro role.
Keywords:
Career transition, Retirement planning, Voluntary planning, Athletic Identity, Copying Strategies, Athletic Level
