Results

Following a description of the sample, the research findings are divided into three overlapping categories that parallel the sections from the original questionnaire. The sections are: I) general gambling activities; II) sports related gambling with friends; and III) gambling with bookmakers and other organized gambling activities.

Description of the Sample

The final sample consisted of 758 student athletes from a pool of 3000 surveys that were mailed. This was a response rate of 25.3%. Just over 60% of the student athlete respondents were male and 39% of the student athletes were female. The age of the participants ranged from 18 to 28 years old with an average age of 20.5 years. Fifty-two percent of the student athletes were under the age of 21, and 91.3% of respondents were between the traditional college ages of 18-22 years old.

Over 54% of the student athletes indicated that they were basketball players and 45.5% of the sample played football. Among the student athletes who participated in the sport of basketball, 27.6% were male and 72.4% were female. Seventy-six percent of the student athletes stated they received an athletic grant-in-aid while 24% received no athletically related financial support.

Table 1 provides additional background about the student athletes in the sample including the number of years they have competed in college, their self-described role on a team, and their grade point averages. Approximately half of the student athletes indicated that they had completed three or four years of athletic eligibility. Two-thirds of the respondents described their role on the team as either a starter or important substitute. Over 80% of the respondents had a grade point average of 2.5 or better on a 4.0 scale.

Table 1

Student Athlete Characteristics
(Eligibility Completed, Grade Point Average,
and Team Role)