An Examination of the Impact of Relative Age Effects and Academic Timing on Intercollegiate Athletics Participation in Women’s Softball

Authors

  • Jess C. Dixon University of Windsor
  • Vincenzo Liburdi University of Windsor
  • Sean Horton University of Windsor
  • Patricia L. Weir University of Windsor

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1123/jis.6.2.147

Keywords:

relative age effect, academic timing, ntercollegiate athletics, women’s softball, NCAA

Abstract

This investigation makes three noteworthy contributions to literature on the Relative Age Effect (RAE); 1) it adds to the small number of studies in women’s sports, 2) it is one of very few papers to examine the RAE in intercollegiate athletics, and 3) it (re-)introduces “academic timing” to the discussion of RAEs in this context. The 50 top-ranked NCAA Division I women’s softball teams at the conclusion of the 2011 season served as the focus for this investigation. Student-athletes were grouped into quartiles according to their birth date and identified as “on-time” or “academically delayed” based on their birth year and eligibility status. On-time student-athletes were over four times more likely to be born in quartile one than in quartile four, demonstrating a traditional RAE. This pattern was reversed for those who were academically delayed, with quartile four birth dates constituting more than half of the entire sample.

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Author Biographies

  • Jess C. Dixon, University of Windsor
    The authors are with the Department of Kinesiology, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
  • Vincenzo Liburdi, University of Windsor
    The authors are with the Department of Kinesiology, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
  • Sean Horton, University of Windsor
    The authors are with the Department of Kinesiology, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
  • Patricia L. Weir, University of Windsor
    The authors are with the Department of Kinesiology, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

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Published

2013-12-01

How to Cite

Dixon, J. C., Liburdi, V., Horton, S., & Weir, P. L. (2013). An Examination of the Impact of Relative Age Effects and Academic Timing on Intercollegiate Athletics Participation in Women’s Softball. Journal of Intercollegiate Sport, 6(2), 147-163. https://doi.org/10.1123/jis.6.2.147