The Effect of General Physical Education Course on Athletic Identity of Azad University Students

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of physical education and sport 1 courses on athletic identity of the female and male Azad University students. The athletic identity scale made by Cieslak (2004) was distributed in the pretest and posttest among 230 undergraduate students who had adopted general physical education and sport 1 courses in 2018- 2019 academic year. Paired t test and Wilcoxon tests were used to assess within-group changes. The mean score of athletic identity significantly increased in female students (P=0.001), while the mean score of athletic identity did not change significantly in male students (P=0.227). Posttest mean score of social identity subscale of the female (P=0.001) and male (P=0.008) students significantly increased compared with the pretest. Posttest mean score of exclusivity subscale did not change significantly in both female (P=0.087) and male (P=0.501) students compared with the pretest. Generally, physical education course affected athletic identity of students, especially female students. General physical education course in universities provides an opportunity to enhance the sport role of the students and lay the groundwork to promote the internal and external components of athletic identity whose aim is to develop students' positive attitudes to sport and physical activity.