TPC-Journal-V2-Issue1

14 The Professional Counselor \Volume 2, Issue 1 social support has been found to have a positive and important effect on career planning. In a study on unemployed individuals, Blustein (1992) found that instrumental support in the form of constructive advice and resources help to better appraise career-related information and adapt to the novel circumstances. It also was found that social support can positively affect the recipient’s experience and is an important determinant of career activities such as researching career options or seeking assistance from a career advisor. Similar findings indicate that along with instrumental support, emotional social support which is characterized by empathy, caring, love, and trust from families is especially important during stressful transitions such as job loss (DeFrank & Ivancevich, 1986). Regarding students and career planning, Quimby and O’Brien (2004) found that perceptions of robust social support resulted in feelings of confidence both in managing the responsibilities associated with being a student and pursuing tasks related to advancing vocational development. Though it is evident that social support is an important factor in the career planning process, additional research examining this construct and its place in career development is needed. Given the reviewed literature and current gap, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among satisfaction with five types of social support and negative career thoughts in collegiate athletes and non-athletes. Method Participants Non-student-athletes and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I student-athletes from the same university were recruited for this study. Complete data were obtained from 272 participants (154 non-athletes and 118 athletes). One hundred forty-six (53.7%) of the participants were male and 126 (46.3%) were female. The race/ethnicity breakdown was as follows: Caucasian ( n = 162, 59.6%), African American ( n = 74, 27.2%), Hispanic ( n = 15, 5.5%), Asian American ( n = 1, 0.4%), other ( n = 12, 4.4%), and more than one apply ( n = 8, 2.9%). Forty-three (15.8%) of the participants were freshman, 65 (23.9%) sophomores, 94 (34.6%) juniors and 70 (25.7%) seniors. Of the athletes, the varsity sport breakdown was as follows: baseball ( n = 13, 11.0%), basketball ( n = 14, 11.9%), football ( n = 37, 31.4%), golf ( n = 5, 4.2%), soccer ( n = 7, 5.9%), softball ( n = 8, 6.8%), swimming & diving ( n = 8, 6.8%), tennis ( n = 3, 2.5%), track & field ( n = 18, 15.3%), and volleyball ( n = 4, 3.4%). One (0.8%) athlete did not indicate involvement in a particular sport. All participants were recruited from a single large university located in the southeastern region of the United States. They were above 18 years of age, and participants comprised of a volunteer, convenient sample obtained by contacting athletic administrators and professors. Instrumentation Demographic Information Survey. The survey contained information about participants’ college major, age, gender, race/ethnicity, and academic year. Social Support Inventory-Subjective Satisfaction (SSI-SS). The SSI-SS (Brown et al., 1987) consisted of 39 self- report items assessing one’s satisfaction with five types of social support: (a) acceptance and belonging, (b) appraisal and coping assistance, (c) behavioral and cognitive guidance, (d) tangible assistance and material aid, and (e) modeling. Participants responded to these items on a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 ( not at all satisfied ) to 7 ( very satisfied ) to indicate their satisfaction with the support they have received. A total score is obtained by summing all of the items. The overall score of the SSI-SS ranges from 39 to 273. The acceptance-belonging subscale score ranges from 9 to 63, and the appraisal-coping assistance subscale score ranges from 9 to 63. The behavioral-cognitive guidance subscale score ranges from 6 to 42. The tangible assistance-material aid subscale score ranges from 5 to 35, and the modeling subscale score ranges from 4 to 28. The total score and the scores of each of the five factors will be assessed in this study. Alpha coefficients for the five factors are .93 for acceptance-belonging, .88 for appraisal-coping assistance, .81 for behavioral-cognitive guidance, .78 for tangible assistance-material aid, and .83 for modeling (Brown et al., 1987). The