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Abstract
This study explored the attitudes of residence life staff toward student-athletes. The following research questions are answered: (1) Is there a difference in residence life staff attitudes toward students and student-athletes?; (2) Is there a difference in residence life staff attitudes toward students and student-athletes based on the race of the student-athlete?; (3) Is there a difference in attitudes of residence life staff toward students and student-athletes based on the gender of the residence life staff?; (4) Is there a difference in attitudes of residence life staff toward students and student-athletes based on the previous high school or collegiate athletic experience of the residence life staff?; (5) Is there a difference in attitudes of residence life staff toward student-athletes based on the years of work experience of the residence life staff?; (6) Is there a difference in attitudes of residence life staff members toward students and student-athletes based on the current collegiate athletic division of the institution the residence life staff work for?; (7) Is there a difference in attitudes of the residence life staff toward students and student-athletes based on the ethnicity of the residence life staff? The Situational Attitude Scale-Student-Athlete (SAS-SA) developed by Engstrom and Sedlacek (1991) was used to explore these questions. Six different forms were developed for this study to examine attitudes toward students, student-athletes, White students, White student-athletes, Black students, and Black student-athletes. Members of the Association of College and University Housing Officers International (ACUHO-I) made up the sample population in this study. Only ACUHO-I member residence life staff who are required to live in residence halls or on campus as part of their job responsibilities were included in this study. These residence life staff were divided into six groups and email invitations were sent to these groups to complete one of the six forms. Comparisons were made between individual items on the student and student-athlete forms; White student and White student-athlete forms; Black student and Black student-athlete forms; student-athlete and White student-athlete forms; student-athlete and Black student-athlete forms; and the White student-athlete and Black student-athlete forms. Once the between form-comparisons had been made, statistically significant differences were found in 24 of the 360 situations of the SAS-SA. A majority of the comparisons were not statistically significant. The results of this study suggest that, overall, residence life staff do not have different attitudes toward students and student-athletes. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.