"Recreational sports departments provide a major access point to physical activity opportunities on college campuses through programming and services. However, many are constrained by current funding environments and must demonstrate their contributions to student success in order to maintain adequate funding. Theories of student success support that involvement outside the classroom is vital to student persistence and overall academic success. Current research supports small, positive relationships between recreational sports participation and student success. However, limitations in study design and methodology are prevalent. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation was to further investigate relationships between recreational sports participation and academic success while addressing some of these limitations. Three studies were conducted using three different datasets. The first evaluated club and intramural sports participation and self-report grade average using a national-level dataset from the American College Health Association (ACHA) National College Health Assessment (NCHA). Study participants included those responding to the ACHA-NCHA between Fall 2008 and Fall 2010 periods (total respondents = 178,091; analytic sample = 85,316). Multinomial logistic regression was used to evaluate the role of participation in club and/or intramural sports on self-reported grade averages while adjusting for significant covariates. In general, sport participants were more likely to report higher grade averages than non-participants, and the strongest relationships were found for club sport participants. The second study investigated relationships between intramural sports participation during the first year of college and academic success indicators using an institutional dataset. Data were collected from university databases. Matched samples (N=1,796; 898 pairs) were generated based on demographic variables. Paired sample t-tests and logistic regression were used to assess differences between participants and non-participants. Participants of intramural sports earned higher grade point averages, lower credit differences (credits attempted - credits completed), were more likely to be retained after the first year, and were more likely to achieve sophomore status after the first year than non-participants. The third dissertation study involved a national-level dataset that included five years of the NASPA Assessment and Knowledge Consortium Recreation and Wellness Benchmark. This study investigated relationships between recreational sports participation (in terms of number of activities and time investment) and academic success indicators. Multinomial logistic regression was used to evaluate the role of participation on student success while adjusting for significant covariates. Students participating in a moderate number of activities and a high time investment were more likely to self-report higher anticipated term GPAs than non-users. No significant relationships were found for likelihood of retention next term. Overall, dissertation results support previous literature and suggest that recreational sports participation is positively related to academic success in college students. Additionally, two large, national datasets were evaluated and provide more generalizable results than previous work. Future research should investigate national datasets that include objectively collected data (i.e., from university databases), and further investigate frequency of participation."--Pages ii-iii.
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