The Impact of Gender Role Conflict on the Quality of Life in Female Athletes

This study assessed whether female athletes’ quality of life varies as a function of their gender role conflict and if one’s ability to tolerate distress moderates this function. Also, this study sought to determine why female athletes experience conflict and the psychological processes they use to manage these potentially conflicting roles. A total of 207 female collegiate athletes provided measures of masculinity/femininity, athletic identity, gender role conflict, distress tolerance, quality of athletic life, and responded to open-ended questions assessing their perceptions of stereotypes about female athletes. Results found that several measured variables impact a female athlete’s experience of gender role conflict, and found that distress tolerance does not moderate the relationship between one’s quality of athletic life and gender role conflict.