Exploring Psychological Capital in Student Athletes: Strategies for Coping with Dual Identity Challenges

Many student athletes experience dual identity phenomena, where they are required to balance their lives as students and athletes, which can cause significant mental stress, such as burnout, depression, and anxiety, which in turn can lead to an increase in physical injuries. Given this, it is important to investigate psychological capital, such as hope, self-efficacy, resilience, and optimism, to develop adaptive strategies for balancing dual identities. The method used in this study was the Qualitative Phenomenological method with Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) data analysis techniques through in-depth interviews with five student athletes to explore their subjective experiences. Based on the interview results, it was found that psychological capital is an important aspect in their experience of balancing dual identities as students and athletes. Their experiences in each aspect of Psychological Capital varied, depending on influencing factors, ranging from their beliefs to the social support they received. This shows that Psychological Capital is a complex process that is formed through the dynamic subjective experiences of individuals, in this context, student athletes.