Campus Engagement and Climate-Based Factors Associated With Academic Achievement of Collegiate Athletes: A Meta-Analytic Investigation

In the ever-evolving landscape of intercollegiate athletics, postsecondary institutions are increasingly committed to creating inclusive environments that enable collegiate athletes to thrive academically. Some of the influential factors shaping athletes’ academic achievement may be their experiences of campus engagement and climate. Aggregating prior studies on college athletics, we conducted a meta-analytic synthesis of 58 studies (N = 60,105) to examine the quantitative associations linking campus engagement and climate factors with the academic performance of U.S. collegiate athletes. We categorized these factors into six constructs: campus climate and belonging, educational and student activities, faculty interactions, help- and resource-seeking, peer interactions, and racialized experiences. Our findings revealed statistically significant, positive correlations between college GPA and campus climate and belonging, educational and student activities, help- and resource-seeking, and faculty interactions. Moderator analyses identified differential patterns by publication status and athletic division. Our findings underscore the importance of inclusive campus environments and meaningful interactions in promoting academic achievement with sensitivity to diversity across institutional settings. We offer timely insights for scholar-practitioners seeking to develop equity-minded academic support structures that affirm collegiate athletes’ intellectual capacities and foster integration within the broader campus community.