Mediating effect of social behavior on passion and aggression of Taekwondo athletes: validation of three instruments in the Korean language

Abstract

Researchers have reported a close relationship between the passion and aggression among athletes. However, studies that verify their causal relationship in terms of social behavior are insufficient. This study was conducted to test the causal relationship between the passion, social behavior, and aggression of Taekwondo athletes. The study recruited 193 Taekwondo athletes in Korea and Passion, social behavior, and aggression composed of Korean language were measured. The SPSS 23.0, PROCESS Macro (V.2.13), and Amos 23.0 were used for data analysis. First, the harmonious passion exerted significant positive and negative effects on the prosocial and antisocial behaviors, respectively. Moreover, obsessive passion exerted a significant positive effect on antisocial behavior. Second, the prosocial behavior exerted a significant negative effect on anger, whereas the antisocial behavior had a significant positive effect on anger and aggressiveness. Third, upon examining the mediating effect based on the direct effect, the harmonious passion exerted a partially, significantly negative indirect effect on anger and aggressiveness with the social behavior as the mediator. Lastly, the obsessive passion exerted a partially, significantly positive indirect effect on anger and aggressiveness with the social behavior as the mediator. This study verified the causal relationship between aggressions through the social behavior and derived a very meaningful result from the sports psychology and sociological aspect in that it expanded the theoretical scope and discovered a new research model. This finding suggests that the study can contribute to understand the social behavior of humans and the development of physical education.