Academic and Psychosocial Antecedents of Academic Performance for Minority and Nonminority College Football Players

This study investigated the effects of academic and psychosocial variables on the academic performance of minority and nonminority college student athletes. Analyses revealed that higher levels of competitive trait anxiety and negative life stress were associated with lower fall‐term grade point averages for certain nonminority athletes. The academic variable was weakly related to the academic performances of minority and not related to nonminority football players' performances. These findings call into question the use of standardized test scores for predicting academic performance and suggest that academic counselors may want to consider the effects of noncognitive variables in their work with student athletes.