Athletic retirement: A cross-national comparison of elite French and Swedish athletes

ObjectivesThe focus of this paper is on a cross-national comparison of elite French and Swedish athletes in terms of (a) pre-conditions for the athletic retirement; (b) coping and related factors; (c) perceived quality and long-term consequences of the transition. The study also examines an impact of retirement planning upon the transition process and outcomes.Design and MethodThe Retirement from Sports survey [Alfermann, Stambulova, & Zemaityte (2004). Reactions to sport career termination: A cross-cultural comparison of German, Lithuanian, and Russian athletes. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 5  , 61–75] translated into French/Swedish and adapted for studying athletes in corresponding countries was used. The sample was composed of 157 former international level athletes from France (n=69)(n=69) and Sweden (n=88)(n=88), males and females, representatives of different sports. ANOVA and MANOVA were used for the data analyses.Results and ConclusionA common pattern and two nationally specific patterns in the process of the transition to the post-career have been identified. The common pattern involved athletic retirement pre-conditions (e.g., retirement planning), coping and related factors. Cross-cultural differences related to reasons for termination, emotional reactions upon retirement (more positive in Swedish sample), perceived difficulty to start a new professional career, usage of emotion-focused/avoidance coping strategies (both higher in French sample), duration of the transition, current athletic identity, and professional choice/career/life satisfaction nowadays (all higher in Swedish sample). Retirement planning, regardless of the nation, was associated with more favourable emotions and coping behaviours in the transition but was not associated with perceived quality and long-term consequences of the transition. The study showed that the transition out of elite sports is a dynamic, multidimensional, multilevel, and multifactor process in which nationality/culture plays an important role.