Changing identity through sport: The Paralympic sport club experience among adolescents with mobility impairments

Adolescents with mobility impairments have fewer opportunities to challenge identity as an athlete through sport participation.

This study examined athletic identity impact of adolescent athletes with mobility impairments who participate in Paralympic Sport Clubs.

This cross-sectional web-survey design examined demographics (gender, academic level, hours of time spent in sports participation, and preferred amount of time in sport participation) and athletic identity through the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS). Forty-seven adolescents (male = 34, female = 13) between the ages of 13-18 with mobility impairments who were currently participating in a Paralympic Sport Club were recruited for the study.

Two factorial ANOVA examined the differences of AIMS scores by gender and academic level, and gender and hours of time spent in sports participation per week. Hours of time spent in sports participation by adolescent athletes with physical disabilities showed significant difference on athletes' identity. AIMS score increased along with augmented time spent in sport participation. However, gender and academic level made no significant difference on athletic identity. A one-way ANOVA test was applied to compare the effect of preferred amount of time in sport participation per week on scores for AIMS and showed significant group difference on AIMS. Participants who indicated more preferred amount of time in sport participation also scored higher on AIMS.

These findings support the notion that hours of time spent and preferred amount of time in sports participation influences athletic identity. Sport participation, when available can influence athletic identity with this population.