Effect of Participation in High School Athletic Club Activities for Acquisition of Life Skills on Students’ Career Maturity

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of participation in high school athletic club activities for the acquisition of life skills on students' career maturity. Two hundred and sixty-five first year university students (199 students who had belonged to high school athletic clubs and 66 students who had not participated in any kind of club) participated in this study. An educational career maturity scale (Sakayanagi, 1992; 1993) was employed to evaluate the students' career maturity. Both an athletic situational skills scale and a life skills scale (Ueno and Nakagomi, 1998) were used to evaluate the psychosocial skills of students in both their athletic club and school life. The results of this study indicated that participation in high school athletic club activities had an indirect effect on career maturity through the acquisition of life skills (both interpersonal skills and intrapersonal skills), but did not have a direct influence on career maturity. Additionally, the acquisition of athletic situational skills had an indirect effect on career maturity through the acquisition of life skills, but did not have a direct effect on career maturity. One possible explanation to consider is that participation in high school athletic club activities which develop life skills enhances the career maturity of students.