2025 Theses Doctoral

Career Adapt-Abilities Scale - Dual Career Form - U.S. (CAAS-DC-U.S.): Psychometric Properties and Initial Score Validation in U.S. Collegiate Student-Athletes

De Palo, Jessica Grace

NCAA Division I student-athletes have reported difficulties in balancing their academics and extracurricular activities, including their athletic commitments (NCAA, 2020b, 2022b). Student-athlete time demands may lead to student-athletes prioritizing their athletic commitments and delaying their preparation for their professional career after sport (Brown et al., 2000; Ryba et al., 2017). A concept that can support student-athletes’ preparation for their professional career after sport is career adaptability.

This research study examined if career adaptability scores of the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale - Dual Career Form (CAAS-DC; Ryba & Aunola, 2015; Ryba et al., 2017) are reliable and valid for NCAA Division I student-athletes in the United States. Additionally, this study analyzed the relationship between career adaptability and career construction, self-esteem, resilience, and sport burnout with NCAA Division I student-athletes. The relationship between career adaptability and academic performance was also observed.

Acceptable criterion values were observed to determine that there was a good fit of the observed data to the correlated five-factor model of the CAAS-DC-U.S. Overall, significant correlations were found between the scores of the CAAS-DC-U.S. combined scale and career construction, self-esteem, resilience, and sport burnout. A significant correlation was not found between career adaptability and academic performance, and low sport burnout reliability scores should be considered when assessing the correlation between career adaptability and sport burnout in this study.

The results demonstrate that the CAAS-DC-U.S. may be used by practitioners and researchers to measure career adaptability with NCAA Division I student-athletes in the United States. By having an instrument to measure career adaptability with student-athletes, practitioners and researchers can also work to develop interventions for building student-athletes’ career adaptability resources. Increasing student-athletes’ career adaptability resources may support them with combining their academic and athletic commitments and better prepare them for their professional career after sport.