1. Limitations & Current Directions Introduction & Background
“Ball Is Life:” Athletic Media Representations, Identity, and Black Males’ Academic Ambitions
Gerald Higginbotham*
University of California, Los Angeles
Results of Engaging with Athletic Media Representations
How do athletic media representations of successful Black men shape young Black males’ identity and ambitions?
Limitations & Current Directions
Athletic Media Engagement Negatively Predicts Academic Ambitions For Black Male Students *
Black males
White males
r = -.29, p < .05
r = .33, p = .15
Findings & Limitations
Study 1:
Traditional athletic portrayals may have negative implications for Black male achievement.
For White males, exposure to athletic portrayals could relate positively to academic ambitions. Future studies will include larger White sample.
Study 2:
Professionally dressed Black men may be an uncommon and non-stereotypical representation of Black athletes.
Yet, seeing Black athletes portrayed in more intelligent manner may have positive academic benefits for Black male youth that strongly identify personally as an athlete.
Future studies will use include additional experimental condition that shows Black men dressed in sports attire and will include larger sample of Black male students.
Current Directions
Utilizing Valued Identities:
If young Black males possess chronically higher levels of athletic identity, framing athletic identity as inclusive of academics may increase academic identification and ambitions.
Stereotypes & Intersectionality:
How do race and gender stereotypes who excels in sport vs. school affect levels of athletic and academic identification in Black males?
Introduction & Background
Theoretical and empirical evidence support that media representations have strong influence on identity and aspirations.1,2
Sports media provides pervasive and subjectively positive portrayals of successful Black men.3
Common stereotypes about who excels at sports (e.g., men, Black Americans) map onto young Black males’ race and gender identities.4
However, Black athletes are stereotyped as physically talented but not smart.5
Research finds that exposure to sports programming is related to adverse psychological outcomes (e.g., self-esteem) for Black adolescents.6
For members of negatively stereotyped groups, exposure to counter-stereotypic media can increase aspirations in stereotyped domain.2
Study 2
Does exposure to counter-stereotypical representations of Black men increase ambitions?
Methods
51 Black male students from Midwestern high school
Participants were shown three ads depicting Black men as either an:
Measures
Academic Ambitions & “To what extent do you identify as an athlete?”
Results: No difference in academic ambitions across conditions
Athlete
Intern Or
Study 1
Does exposure to sports programming predict lower academic ambitions in Black male students?
Methods
Participants
81 male students from Midwestern high school (58 Black, 23 White)
Measures
Athletic Media Exposure & Engagement
“How many hours per week do you watch sports programming on TV?”
“To what extent do you enjoy sports programming?”
Academic Ambitions
”How far would you LIKE to go in school?
“Realistically speaking, how far do you THINK you will get in school?”
Hypothesis
Exposure to athletic media will correlate negatively with academic ambitions for Black males, but no relationship will exist for White males.
References
1. Bandura, A., Media Psychology. 2. Geis, F. L., et al., Sex Roles. 3. Harrison, L., Harrison, C. K., & Moore, L. N., Sport, Education, and Society. 4. Wiggins, D. K., Journal of Sport History. 5. Walzer, A. S., & Czopp, A. M., Journal of Social Psychology. 6. Ward, L. M., Developmental Psychology.
Notes:
* This research was conducted as an Honors Thesis, under the mentorship of Dr. Rebecca Hetey and Dr. Jennifer Eberhardt. It was conducted at Stanford University. The current directions research is being conducted at UCLA in collaboration with Dr. Tiffany Brannon.
Acknowledgments: Mellon Mays Foundation; Stanford MCS Lab; Dr. Jenessa Shapiro; UCLA IRL & CCL labs; Principal Subrinia Chappelle; Dr. Joseph Brown
Direction of Correlations between Identification as Athlete and Academic Ambitions Differ by Condition *
Intern
Control
Athlete
r = .12, p > .6
r = .36, p = .2
r = -.59, p < .05