Student-Athletes Lead Better Lives After College Than Their Peers, Survey Finds

Former student-athletes have more to celebrate than winning a game—they tend to lead better lives than non-athletes even after hanging up their uniforms for good, according to a new survey.

The Gallup survey, conducted with the NCAA to focus on long-term outcomes for college athletes, found that while jocks of both genders fared better than non-athletes on four elements of wellbeing—purpose, social, community and physical—the difference was most pronounced among female athletes. They were more likely to be more engaged at work than female non-athletes, 48% to 41% respectively. Among men, the difference was marginal.

In all, 82% of former student-athletes of both genders are employed at their desired level, compared to 78% of graduates who weren’t jocks. The survey polled 1,670 former NCAA athletes and compared their answers to those of more than 22,000 non-athletes.