The Culture in Athletics
I was so fortunate to have such an amazing friend enter my life as we both entered the world of college softball together as roommates, and later best friends. I want to feature her first and her dissertation about college athletics and the culture surrounding it.
As athletes, we have a lot going on, especially as we reach the college level and beyond. We have daily pressure coming from all directions to be what we want to be, but also what others want to be. Sometimes it can negatively affect the mind and how we view ourselves. These problems can seem trivial at first, but they can grow into much larger problems with far greater consequences.
Ileana chose to do her dissertation on this very topic.
Her dissertation is linked here (best viewed on a laptop or desktop).
Below is an excerpt of her writing:
“(Kass et al., 2017) showed that eating disorders tremendously impact college students’ future well-being by impairing academic performance and overall lifestyle. While Division 1 and 2 institutions have an array of human, community, and organizational resources that offer treatments or support for eating disorders, the technological availability of resources is highly variable (Lipson et al., 2017b). Despite Division 1 and 2 institutions providing some resources for students like wellness centers and counseling services, readily available web-based content for eating disorders is scarce. Even with institutional resources, staffing gaps often prevent students from receiving assistance, which creates a decrease in efficiency in delivering help to students with eating disorders (Wilfley et al., 2013). Division 1 and 2 institutions vary on readily available web-based content provided to college students. The gap in web-based content for eating disorders present for college students at Division 1 and 2 institutions was the guiding reason for the purpose of this study.
The problem is the lack of availability of web-based content and resources that higher education institutions provide across Division 1 and 2 campuses. Laurel Thomas (2013) from the University of Michigan noted that most college campuses provide resources but lack online information for students seeking help for eating disorders and are not comfortable coming forward (Thomas, 2013). This study contributes to the body of knowledge needed to further resolve this problem by examining the differences in web-based content resources for eating disorders for Division 1 and 2 institutions using a quantitative and qualitative approach. The resources examined provided significant information to address the issue in higher education” (page 2-3).