Abstract
The purpose of this study was to develop a Japanese version of the Academic Athletic Identity Scale (AAIS-J), originally developed by Yukhymenko-Lescroart (2014) and to examine the relationship between academic athletic identity and grade point average (GPA). The participants were 251 student athletes who compete at the national collegiate level (male : 155, female : 96, age : M=20.33, SD=1.18). The Academic Athletic Identity Scale (AAIS) (Yukhymenko-Lescroart, 2014) was translated into Japanese using the back-translation method, and the reliability and validity of the AAIS-J were examined. The results indicated the reliability (internal consistency) and validity (construct validity, criterion-related validity) of the AAIS-J and illustrated the scale’s usefulness. In addition, the result of examining the relationship between academic athletic identity and GPA showed that student athletes who have a higher academic identity indicated higher GPA, and higher athletic identity was also positively associated with GPA. These results indicated both similar and different results of previous studies about the relationship between student athlete identity and GPA, thus, this study provided new knowledge about Japanese student athletes. In conclusion, this study confirmed the reliability, validity and usefulness of the AAIS-J.
