Gender Differences In Socially Responsible Leadership And Leadership Self-efficacy In Collegiate Varsity Athletes

INTRODUCTION: Organized sports participation has many benefits and can positively impact athletes physically, mentally, and socially. Athletes typically experience higher self-esteem, belonging, and interpersonal communication than their nonathlete peers. However, little is known about how college sports participation influences leadership skill development in athletes and whether there are differences in leadership development among men, women, and trans*/gender-nonconforming (TGNC) athletes. PURPOSE: Determine gender differences in socially responsible leadership (SRLS) and leadership self-efficacy (LSE) in collegiate varsity athletes and nonathlete peers. METHODS: Secondary analyses were performed on data collected in 2021 as part of the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership (MSL), a national study of college student leadership development. The MSL consists of multiple validated measures, including the 6 subscales of the SRLS and the LSE scales. The sample consisted of 4031 college athletes and 29,839 nonathlete peers (63% & 67% women, 36% & 31% men, and 1% & 2% TGNC, respectively) from 69 US colleges and universities. An ANOVA for each of the SRLS subscales, the SRLS omnibus, and LSE was used to compare groups, and posthoc analyses examined main and interaction effects. RESULTS: Among athletes, SRLS subscale and omnibus scores were higher in women than men, and lowest in TGNC athletes (Table). For LSE, women and men athletes scored similarly and higher than TGNC athletes. Compared to their nonathlete peers, men and women athletes scored higher on all outcomes while TGNC athletes scored lower on all outcomes except LSE. CONCLUSIONS: Collegiate varsity sports participation may be beneficial for increasing leadership capacity in men and women; however, TGNC athletes have different experiences than their cisgender peers.