Process of ego development in athletes: An examination based on developmental changes in crisis issues

Abstract

Ego development in athletes should be examined as a long-term process. We hypothesized that 1) athletes face specific crises at each stage of development, and 2) these crises involve the resolution of psychosocial developmental tasks that promote ego development at each stage. The purpose of the present study was to examine the validity of the hypothesized process of ego development in athletes, focusing on three developmental stages: junior high school years, senior high school years, and college years. The study initially examined crisis issues related to ego development in college athletes. A previous study by Takenouchi et al. (2006) investigated crisis issues related to ego development in junior and senior high school athletes. Based on the results of the present study and their study, we examined developmental changes in crisis issues related to ego development in athletes. The results showed that crisis experiences in the issues of coaches, future occupation/life courses, continuation in athletics, friends of the opposite sex, and athletic performance were associated with ego development in ways that differed according to developmental stage, thus supporting hypothesis 1. We next examined whether developmental changes in crisis issues related to ego development in athletes could be interpreted theoretically in terms of changes in the psychosocial tasks at each stage of development. Examination of psychosocial developmental tasks, such as psychological separation, identity formation, development of intimacy, and internalization of sex roles, confirmed that the developmental changes in crisis issues related to ego development could be interpreted theoretically in terms of the changes in the psychosocial tasks at each stage of development. This finding suggests that crisis issues may be related to psychosocial developmental tasks, and that those tasks may mediate the relationship between crisis issues and ego development among athletes, thus supporting hypothesis 2. Accordingly, the results of this study support the hypothesized process of ego development in athletes. Future research directions are discussed, and a model for the process of ego development in athletes, including issues to be examined in the future, is presented.