Colleges and universities are intellectual agencies, but they are also social, commercial, and athletic agencies. While higher education institutions have been pursuing competitive academic performance, college athletic programs have grown rapidly and provided a sense of excitement, pride, and involvement to the college and community (Gerdy, 2000). In the United States, intercollegiate sports represent a major portion of the sport industry and they are as prosperous as professional sports. This study attempted to explore how college students obtain psychological benefits (i.e., psychic income) from their athletic teams, especially a football team. Crompton’s (2004) psychic income paradigm was adopted and the preliminary questionnaire was established by a comprehensive literature review, expert review, a field test, and a pilot study. Confirmatory factor analysis and reliability tests were employed with the total number of 663 data for the final purification of the scale of psychic income (SPI). As a result of the factor analysis, the 7-factor model with 27 was conceptualized: Social Bonding (3 items), Excitement (3 items), Emotional Involvement (5 items), Collective Self-esteem (3 items), Pride as a Major Collegiate Sport Institution (5 items), Pride as an Increased Institution Visibility (4 items), and Pride Due to Additional Campus Development Efforts (4 items).

 

Crompton, J.L. (2004). Beyond economic impact: An alternative rationale for the public subsidy of major league sports facilities. Journal of Sport Management, 18, 40-58.

Gerdy, J.R. (2000). Sports in school: the future of institution. New York: Teachers College Press.