Sporadically, forty famous athletes were chosen. These athletes come from a variety of sports such as tennis, track, basketball, baseball, swimming, golf, boxing, soccer, and skiing. Of these athletes, twenty was woman and twenty was men. Of the separate gender groups, ten of the athletes were minority and ten was Caucasian. Each athlete's background was researched.
Some of the athletes consisted of Marion Jones, Tiger Woods, Mark Spitz, Jennifer Azzi, Summer Sanders, and Michael Johnson.
Of the forty athletes researched, 8 of the 40 athletes were born into the upper class of society. 7 of the 40 athletes were born into the lower class of society. 23 of the 40 athletes were born into the middle class of society. Of the 8 upper class athletes, 2 were Caucasian men, 6 were women; 3 Caucasian and 3 minorities. Of the 7 lower class athletes, 5 were men; 3 Caucasians and 2 minority men. There were 2 women of the 7, both minority women. Of the 23 middle class athletes, 15 were men; 8 Caucasian and 7 minorities. There were 8 women; 2 Caucasian and 6 minorities. .
This particular research was set of like this to be close to equal in every area. All were athletes from different sports. Half were men and half were women. Half were minority and half were Caucasian. In reality, many would look at this particular study and consider all the middle class and lower class athletes to be minority. This study proves this not to be true. .
This study was done to show the number of successful athletes coming from middle class and lower class households. So now, the question is posed, why this is?.
Mental Advantage.
To began, an athlete, no matter where they are from, has a mental advantage over a non-athlete ("Sports Psychology"). Studies were done to prove this. Certain studies showed athletes depression levels, as well as their depression, tension, hostility, and fatigue levels were lower than that of the non-athlete.
