On the Trail of the “Turkey Trotters”: The Effect of Previous Sport Involvement and Attitudes on Commitment to and Skill in Running
This study tests the degree to which previous sport involvement (PSI) and attitudes toward PSI (APSI) influence present attitudes toward running (ARUN) and commitment to and skill in running. A questionnaire measuring these variables was mailed to a random sample of 210 participants drawn from a local 5-mile race; it was returned by 103 males (60%) and 38 females (90%). Commitment was operationalized as respondents’ training mileage per week, skill as their best race time divided by their best race distance, and PSI as their involvement in sport at the high school and/or college level. Attitudes toward PSI and running were assessed by a modification of the Kenyon ATPA Inventory. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis showed a victory component (PVICT, RVICT) and a fitness component (PFIT, RFIT) for each scale. The results showed that RVICT scores explained a significant amount of the variation in commitment to and skill in running. Noticeably absent was the effect of PSI upon skill and commitment, either directly or indirectly through attitudes toward running.