African Americans: Race as a Self-Schema Affecting Physical Activity Choices

Abstract

The overrepresentation of African Americans in particular sport activities has been the focus of numerous theories and research studies. Researchers have provided anthropometric, physiological, psychological, and sociological explanations for the observed disparity. In this paper, theoretical and empirical contributions to racial differences in sport performance are examined, and a framework for viewing race as a movement self-schema is described. The influence of racial self-schemata on movement self-schemata and how this influence may account for much of the variability in sport performance and activity choices between African Americans and Euro-Americans is examined. The roles of television, modeling, expectation theory, and sociological influences are discussed as possible activators of racial movement self-schemata.

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