Relationship between Life Skills and Career Status of Top University Athletes after Graduation : From the Results of a Longitudinal Study Covering the Four-year Period after Graduation

The aim of this study was to obtain findings that can be used in career development programs for top university athletes in Japan. For 24 top-level university wrestling athletes who graduated in March 2011 (mean age of 22.0±0.2 years at the time of first survey, with continuous years of athletic competition of 7.1±4.1 years), a survey was performed at 5 time times over a 4-year period. At each survey time the questionnaire consisted of items asking about actual career status and it used a scale for evaluating acquirement levels of life skills (LS). For all surveys, valid responses were received from 21 subjects (response rate 87.5%). Changes in career status were that, directly after graduation, nearly half of the respondents were in a state of being unable to obtain a position (regular employment 33.3%; non-regular employment 28.6%; part-time employment 38.1%), with a gradual increase in the number of persons who could obtain a position thereafter, and almost all persons were working 4 years after graduation (regular employment 80.1%; non-regular employment 14.2%) ; part-time employment 4.7%). LS levels achieved through sports competition during the university years were maintained over the four years after graduation. In addition, it was suggested that there is a positive relationship between LS levels and career status, determined by focusing on the top and bottom cases on the levels of the primary LS. This might show a positive relation to the competitive results such as “setting goals” , “thinking carefully” , and “always making one’ s best effort” , calculated from the results of all surveys. These results suggest that there is a possibility to support top university athletes in acquiring the primary LS during the university years and thereby to assist them in building and developing their careers.