Do You Go Girl ?: Females Athletes and Intimate Partner Violence

Although several studies have examined the benefits of sport participation for women, few have centered on women of color in particular. Furthermore, the association between how athletic involvement affects one?s likelihood of victimization has yet to be fully explained. Using data from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), this research employs structural equation modeling techniques to explore the relationship among adolescent females\u27 racial diversity, differential participation in an active sport, and levels of self-esteem to determine how these variables affect victimization patterns in adulthood. Results indicate that female athletic participation has a highly statistically significant positive impact on self-esteem; however, athletic participation and self-esteem levels in adolescent females are not significantly related to their victimization by intimate partners in young adulthood. These results suggest that concentration on victims\u27 characteristics is not necessarily beneficial in order to develop a better understanding of violence; where perhaps instead, research should more closely examine the attributes of perpetrators and societal institutions when exploring how and why violence occurs and who is affected by it