Relationship between Male Athletic Identity and Romantic Relationship Satisfaction

The purpose of this study is to determine if male athletic identity plays a role on romantic relationship satisfaction, so that it can be implemented into couples counseling and work to decrease the divorce rate. Participants completed two measures, the Relationship Assessment Scale (RAS; Hendrick, 1988) and the Athlete Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS; Brewer & Cornelius, 2001), administered via a Qualtrics survey. The survey was accessed by Amazon Mechanical Turk participants and it took approximately 10 minutes to administer. Results indicate that there was not a significant difference in relationship satisfaction ratings between low, medium, and high groupings of athletic identity. This research contributes to a small body of research on the impact of athletics on romantic relationships. It can be included into the training of couples’ counselors to provide general information on how men do not perceive any relationship between their athletic identities and their romantic relationships