Antisocial Behavior In Sport Research Articles

Linking Perfectionism with Moral Behaviors in Sport: The Mediating Role of Burnout and Moral Disengagement

ABSTRACT Purpose: Research has identified a range of intrapersonal variables associated with moral behaviors in sport. However, research investigating how perfectionism and burnout are associated with prosocial and antisocial behavior toward teammates and opponents in sport has received scant attention. In the present study, we address this issue by examining whether perfectionism is associated with prosocial and antisocial behavior in sport directly and indirectly via burnout and moral disengagement. Method: A total of 312 team sport players completed validated measures for each variable. Results: Path analyses revealed that perfectionistic concerns had a negative relationship with prosocial behavior toward teammates and an indirect positive association with antisocial behavior toward both teammates and opponents via being positively associated with burnout, which in turn, was positively associated with moral disengagement. In contrast, perfectionistic strivings had a positive association with prosocial behavior toward teammates, and an indirect positive association with antisocial behavior toward teammates and opponents via moral disengagement. Conclusion: Our findings offer new insights into how perfectionism and burnout are associated with prosocial and antisocial behavior in sport, as well as highlight the need to consider perfectionistic tendencies and approaches to help reduce burnout and moral disengagement in the regulation of antisocial behavior in sport.

Narcissism and antisocial behaviour in sport: The moderating role of self-compassion

Narcissism, which features the chronic disposition to seek the opportunity to construct and maintain an inflated self, is a known risk for antisocial behaviour. However, knowledge of factors that mitigate the effects of narcissism on antisocial behaviour is lacking. In two studies we explored the hypothesis that self-compassion would protect against the link between narcissism and antisocial behaviour, such that narcissism would be less related to antisocial behaviour when self-compassion was high. Study 1 was a cross-sectional study with a sample of professional footballers (N = 208). Study 2 utilised a sample of competitive athletes from a variety of sports (N = 324) over an eight-month period. The data from both studies supported the hypothesis: Greater self-compassion was associated with a null (Study 1) or significantly attenuated (Study 2) relationship between narcissism and antisocial behaviour. We discuss the implications of the findings, including the benefits of incorporating self-compassion in sport settings.

Longitudinal influence of self-compassion and fears of compassion on prosocial and antisocial behaviour in sport: A conditional latent growth curve modelling analysis

ABSTRACT The impact of self-compassion on athlete wellbeing is well established. Much less researched is the impact of self-compassion, and its related fears (hereafter “fears of compassion”) on athletes’ prosocial and antisocial behaviours. Indeed, sporting contexts offer opportunities for athletes to demonstrate prosocial and antisocial behaviours towards teammates and competitors, and these behaviours could lead to various performance and wellbeing-related consequences. Given the well-documented benefits of a compassion, and the intention to investigate alternative antecedents or predictors of prosocial and antisocial behaviour in sport, we assessed the longitudinal influences of self-compassion and fears of compassion on athletes’ prosocial and antisocial behaviours. The study used a repeated measures design, where 324 athletes (174 male, 150 female) from 35 different sports (22 individual sports, 13 team sports) completed surveys at baseline and the 4th and 8th month. Conditional latent growth curve modelling revealed higher self-compassion and lower fears of receiving compassion from others at baseline were associated with greater prosocial behaviours, whilst higher fears of self-compassion were associated with higher antisocial behaviour, over eight months. Results also revealed a trend for antisocial behaviour to increase across the study period. Compassion-based interventions may be of value to athletes to improve prosocial behaviours in sport contexts.

Sport values, personal values and antisocial behavior in sport

A core aspect of morality concerns behavior towards others. To better understand this issue, we investigated the values-behavior relationship. In a cross-sectional study design, 165 team sport athletes rated the importance of Lee's sport values and Schwartz's basic personal values and reported their frequency of antisocial behavior in sport. With sport values, antisocial behavior was negatively correlated with moral values but positively correlated with status values. With personal values, antisocial behavior was negatively correlated with self-transcendence and conservation values but positively correlated with self-enhancement values. In terms of the relative importance of values, competence and moral were more important than status sport values, whereas self-transcendence and openness to change were more important than conservation and self-enhancement personal values. In terms of the conceptual link across contexts, comparisons of sport and personal values confirmed strong overlap between status and self-enhancement values, competence and openness to change values, and moral and self-transcendence values. In conclusion, antisocial behavior was related to both sport and personal values, and, in line with theory and evidence, the relationship between values and antisocial behavior resembled an unethicality profile.

Don’t look back in anger: A cross-sectional and dyadic examination of the Dark Triad, anger, and aggression in athletes

ObjectivesThe Dark Triad (psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism) has been linked to anti-social behaviour in sport, and while anti-social behaviour often involves aggression and violence, no research to date has examined the relationship between the Dark Triad and anger and aggression in athletes. The current two-sample study sought to address this gap. DesignMulti-sample cross-sectional design. MethodSample 1 included 224 athletes (MAGE = 23.85) and Sample 2 included 98 coach-athlete dyads (196 total; athlete MAGE = 18.15, coaches MAGE = 34.84). In both samples, facets of the Dark Triad were related to anger and aggression. ResultsIn Sample 1, regression analyses indicated that psychopathy positively predicted both anger and aggression and Machiavellianism positively predicted aggression. In Sample 2, actor-partner interdependence models indicated a combination of dyadic relationships (i.e., both actor [coach and athlete personality predicted their own anger and aggression] and partner effects [coach and athlete personality predicted the other’s anger and aggression]). In this regard, actor effects were found between psychopathy and both anger and aggression and narcissism and aggression. Coach to athlete partner effects were found for narcissism and anger and Machiavellianism and aggression. ConclusionsOverall, the findings provide evidence for personal and interpersonal relationships between the Dark Triad and anger and aggression and highlight the potential for the darker side of both athlete and coach personality to influence athlete emotions.

A new team sport club aggression scale and its relationship with fans’ hatred, depression, self-reported aggression, and acceptance of aggression

ABSTRACT Aggression and antisocial behaviour in sport are of significant concern for team sport clubs (TSCs) around the world. Although several types of fan aggression and antisocial behaviour scales that have furthered our understanding of TSC aggression have been used in sport literature, a reliable and valid instrument that measures sport fans’ perceptions of both fan base aggression and team aggression in TSCs from a holistic perspective has not previously existed. This study developed and tested a scale that examines TSC aggression through two different measures: fan aggression, which measures fans’ perceptions of the behaviour of their favourite team’s fan base, and team aggression, which measures fans’ perceptions of their favourite team’s (i.e., coach’s, players’, and management’s) aggression. The scale was calibrated and validated in three studies, one that used exploratory factor analysis, one that used confirmatory factor analysis, and one that used nomological network validity. Each study was distinct from the others and employed separate and independent samples. The data for all the studies were collected from an internet panel. The participants were Israeli Soccer fans. The findings show that the club aggression scale (CAS) has positive, direct, and significant relationships with self-reported aggression and perceptions of the appropriateness of aggression among sport fans. In addition, fans’ hatred of rival teams and depression as a result of their team’s performance significantly and positively mediate these relationships. From a managerial perspective, better understanding fans’ perception of TSC aggression can assist managers in their attempts to reduce violence.

“My teammates think it is alright to fight to protect friends”: collective moral disengagement in team sports

ABSTRACT Moral disengagement refers to a set of cognitive mechanisms used to justify transgressive behaviours in order to avoid self-sanctions and minimise negative emotions. Moral disengagement has been widely studied in sport psychology, but only at the individual level. Collective moral disengagement (CMD), which refers to the shared beliefs in justifying negative actions performed by the members of one’s group, has received little research attention. In this study, we aimed to examine whether CMD and performance motivational climate predict adolescents’ antisocial behaviour towards teammates and opponents in team sports. We surveyed 172 Italian adolescent athletes (Mean age = 15.41 ± 1.73 years; 51.7% females). Participants completed a questionnaire measuring CMD, performance motivational climate and antisocial behaviour towards teammates and opponents. We found positive direct effects of CMD and performance motivational climate on antisocial behaviours. CMD was also related to antisocial behaviour towards teammates more strongly when performance motivational climate in the team was high. Our findings suggest the need to consider collective morality to better understand young athletes’ antisocial behaviour in sport.

Linking facets of pride with moral behaviour in sport: the mediating role of moral disengagement

ABSTRACT Research has yet to examine how authentic and hubristic pride relate to moral behaviour toward teammates and opponents in sport. We investigated the extent to which authentic and hubristic pride are related to prosocial and antisocial behaviour in sport directly and indirectly via moral disengagement. Team sport players (N = 319) completed measures of pride, prosocial and antisocial behaviour, and moral disengagement. Path analyses revealed that authentic pride was directly and positively associated with prosocial behaviour, while hubristic pride was positively associated with antisocial behaviour directly and indirectly via moral disengagement. Hubristic pride was also indirectly associated with prosocial behaviour toward opponents via moral disengagement. Overall, our findings suggest that interventions that promote authentic pride and deter hubristic pride may foster ethical conduct in competitive sport.

Validation of the Lithuanian Version of the Coach-Created Empowering and Disempowering Motivational Climate Questionnaire (EDMCQ-C).

Based on Duda’s conceptualization of the motivational climate, the Empowering and Disempowering Motivational Climate Questionnaire-Coach (EDMCQ-C) is a recently developed scale that assesses junior athletes’ perception of the social environmental dimensions proposed by achievement goal theory and self-determination theory. The goal of the current investigation was to evaluate the Lithuanian translation of the EDMCQ-C and more broadly extend the validity and reliability of this questionnaire in sport participants. 712 adolescents from different sport teams in Lithuanian were the participants in this study. Exploratory structural equation modelling provided an acceptable fit of a two-factor model (i.e., empowering and disempowering) of EDMCQ-C. Reliability analysis revealed good levels of internal consistency for the empowering and disempowering climate factors. Discriminant validity was confirmed by a negative correlation between empowering and disempowering climate subscales. Correlations between empowering and disempowering subscales with values, motivation and self-esteem constructs demonstrate convergent validity. Associations between the climate dimensions and prosocial and antisocial behaviour in sport demonstrate predictive validity of EDMCQ-C. The evidence from this study suggests the Lithuanian version of EDMCQ-C is a promising scale for the assessment of athletes’ perceptions of the empowering and disempowering features of the motivational climate created by their coach.

A Longitudinal Examination of the Relations Between Moral Disengagement and Antisocial Behavior in Sport.

Moral disengagement (MD) has been positively associated with antisocial behavior (AB) in sport. However, the longitudinal associations between MD and AB are unexamined to date. Adopting a three-wave cross-lagged panel design, the authors examined the reciprocal relations between MD and two forms of AB (i.e.,toward opponents and teammates) across a competitive season with a sample of 407 team-sport athletes (Mage = 15.7 years) from Canada. Using structural equation modeling, the authors found strong positive autoregressive effects for MD and both forms of AB across both time periods. They also identified strong positive synchronous correlations between MD and both types of AB at each time point. Finally, cross-lagged effects were only found between MD and AB toward opponents; effects from MD to AB toward opponents were stronger than the reciprocal effects. These findings contribute important knowledge on the regulation of AB in sport.

Parents' Sport Socialization Values, Perceived Motivational Climate and Adolescents' Antisocial Behaviors.

Parents play a key role in young athletes’ sport experience. In particular, parents’ sport goals for children may influence young athletes’ morally relevant sport behaviors. The present study involves 172 Italian adolescents (female = 51.7%; age M = 15.41, SD = 1.73) practicing team sports and analyzed whether and the extent to which parents’ sport socialization values, those values adolescents perceived their parents wanted them to endorse (i.e., moral, competence, status values), were associated with young athletes’ antisocial behaviors towards teammates and opponents. Adolescents’ perceptions of the prominent motivational climate (i.e., mastery and performance) within their team were also considered. Participants were asked to fill out questionnaires, including the Youth Sport Values Questionnaire-2, adapted to measure adolescents’ perceptions of parental socialization values, the Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire and the Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior in Sport Scale. The results of multiple linear regression analysis and relative weight analysis showed that mastery motivational climate, as protective factor, and mothers’ status values, as risk factor, were the most important variables in predicting adolescents’ antisocial behavior towards teammates. As far as adolescents’ antisocial behavior towards opponents was concerned, performance motivational climate and mothers’ status values were the most relevant predictors: the more adolescents perceived their coaches and mothers as giving importance to performance and status, the higher was the frequency of their antisocial behavior in sport. Implications and further developments of the study are discussed.

Effects of antisocial behaviour on opponent's anger, attention, and performance

ABSTRACTSledging, which is verbal antisocial behaviour in sport, aims to impair an opponent’s performance. Previously, variations in performance have been attributed to changes in emotion and cognition. To improve our understanding of sledging, the current experiment examined the effects of verbal antisocial behaviour on anger, attention and performance. Participants performed a competitive basketball free-throw shooting task under insult (verbal behaviour designed to offend and upset the performer), distraction (verbal behaviour designed to draw attention away from the task), or control (neutral verbal behaviour) conditions. Performance was assessed by the number of successful baskets and a points-based scoring system, while anger and attention were measured post-task. The insult condition provoked more anger than the control and distraction conditions, whereas the insult and distraction conditions increased distraction and reduced self-focus compared to the control condition. Although verbal antisocial behaviour had no overall direct effect on performance, mediation analysis showed that anger indirectly impaired performance via distraction. Implications for the antisocial behaviour-performance relationship are discussed.

Relationships among moral and contesting variables and prosocial and antisocial behavior in sport

The current study of US intercollegiate athletes (n = 1066) involved in multiple sports investigated relationships among moral (moral reasoning maturity, moral value evaluation [MVE], and moral identity), contesting (partnership and war orientations) and behavioral (prosocial and antisocial) variables in sport. Among other relationships, results demonstrated that prosocial behavior was positively correlated with moral reasoning maturity, higher appreciation of moral values, moral identity and a partnership contesting orientation. In contrast, antisocial behavior was negative correlated with moral reasoning maturity, MVE, moral identity and a partnership orientation. In addition, antisocial behavior was positively correlated with a war contesting orientation. Regression analyses demonstrated that prosocial behavior was best predicted by the partnership contesting orientation and moral identity; antisocial behavior was best predicted by the war orientation followed closely by moral identity. Results are discussed in relation to Kohlbergian moral theory and contesting theory.

The Darker Side of Personality: Narcissism Predicts Moral Disengagement and Antisocial Behavior in Sport

Despite a plethora of research on moral disengagement and antisocial behavior, there is a dearth of literature that explores personality in the context of these undesirable attitudes and behaviors. We provide the first examination of personality, specifically narcissism, as a predictor of moral disengagement and antisocial behavior in sport. Given that narcissism is negatively related to empathy and positively related to feelings of entitlement, it is more likely for narcissists to disengage morally and to behave antisocially. We thus hypothesized that narcissism would predict antisocial behavior via moral disengagement. Across 12 team contact sports (n = 272), bootstrapped mediation analyses confirmed this indirect effect, which remained significant when controlling for motivational climate, social desirability, sex and sport type. Coaches and practitioners would do well to consider the darker side of personality in targeting moral disengagement and its behavioral consequences in team sports.

Examining social identity and intrateam moral behaviours in competitive youth ice hockey using stimulated recall

ABSTRACTSocial identity – identity formed through membership in groups – may play an important role in regulating intrateam moral behaviour in youth sport (Bruner, M. W., Boardley, I., & Côté, J. (2014). Social identity and prosocial and antisocial behavior in youth sport. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 15(1), 56–64. doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2013.09.003). The aim of this study was to qualitatively examine this potential role through stimulated recall interviews with competitive youth-ice-hockey players. Twenty-three players (Mage = 13.27 years, SD = 1.79) who reported engaging in high, median or low frequency of antisocial teammate behaviour (determined through pre-screening with the Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviour in Sport Scale [Kavussanu, M., & Boardley, I. D. (2009). The prosocial and antisocial behavior in sport scale. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 31(1), 97–117. doi:10.1123/jsep.31.1.97]) were recruited from eight youth-ice-hockey teams in Canada. Interviews involved participants recalling their thoughts during prosocial/antisocial interactions with teammates, prompted by previously recorded video sequences of such incidents. Thematic analysis of interview data revealed all athletes – regardless of reported frequency of intrateam antisocial behaviour – felt prosocial interactions with teammates enhanced social identity. In contrast, the perceived influence of antisocial teammate behaviour on social identity differed depending on athletes’ reported frequency of intrateam antisocial behaviour; those reporting low and median frequencies described how such behaviour undermines social identity, whereas athletes reporting high frequency did not perceive this effect. The study findings highlight the potential importance of intrateam moral behaviour and social identity for youth-sport team functioning.

Gender Moderates the Relationship Between Empathy and Aggressiveness in Sport: The Mediating Role of Anger

This research investigated whether gender moderates, and anger mediates, the relationship between empathy (i.e., perspective taking and empathic concern) and aggressiveness in sport. In Study 1, perspective taking and empathic concern were negatively associated with aggressiveness, and this effect was stronger in women compared to men. In Study 2, perspective taking was a negative predictor of aggressiveness and antisocial behavior in sport, and anger mediated these relationships in women but not in men. Our findings suggest that empathy and emotion-based strategies targeted at reducing aggressiveness in sport need to be tailored for male and female athletes.

Relationship between moral disengagement in sport and prosocial and antisocial behaviors in Chinese athletes

Moral disengagement is a psychological process in which people use different cognitive strategies to justify their potentially problematic actions and to reduce feelings of shame and guilt. Athletes with high level of moral disengagement in sport may show more antisocial behavior and less prosocial behavior than other athletes. To date, most research investigating prosocial and antisocial behavior in sport has focused on behaviors directed at opponents. However, recent studies have also investigated prosocial and antisocial behavior within sport teams. Since the majority of past studies have been conducted in western countries, we know little about moral disengagement of Chinese athletes. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to develop a valid and reliable measure of sport moral disengagement and to examine the relationship between sport moral disengagement and prosocial and antisocial behavior among Chinese athletes. Study 1 sought to develop a sport-specific measure of moral disengagement for Chinese athletes. Forty-eight items were developed based on content analysis of interviews with athletes and mass media reports of transgressions of athletes. Two hundred and fifty-four Chinese athletes were asked to rate their agreement with each item, and their responses were used exploratory factor analyses(EFA). Results showed that 20 items loaded on five factors:(1) conduct reconstrual,(2) advantageous comparison,(3) euphemistic labeling,(4) dehumanization, and(5) non-responsibility. After this, another 283 Chinese athletes filled in the questionnaire. The confirmatory factor analysis(CFA) indicated that the 5-factor solution was stable and the internal reliability of each of the factors was acceptable. Study 2 tested the relationship between moral disengagement in sport and prosocial and antisocial behavior towards teammates and opponents. Three hundred and six Chinese athletes responded to the 20-items moral disengagement questionnaire developed in Study 1 and the Chinese version of prosocial and antisocial behavior in sports scale(PABSS). Results from multivariate analysis of variance(MANOVA) and hierarchical regression analysis(HRA) showed that gender, type of sport, and competition level can predict antisocial behavior towards teammates and opponent(R2 = 0.11, F(3, 302)=12.88, p 0.01; R2 = 0.29, F(3, 302)=41.31, p 0.01) better than prosocial behavior towards teammates and opponents(R2 = 0.05, F(3, 302)=5.37, p 0.01; R2 = 0.06, F(3, 302)=6.23, p 0.01). Type of sport was the strongest predictor which negatively predicted antisocial behavior towards teammates and opponents(β =-0.29, t =-5.32, p 0.01; β =-0.49, t =-9.94, p 0.01). After controlling for gender, type of sport, and competition level, non-responsibility was the strongest predictor which can significantly and negatively predict prosocial behavior towards teammates and opponents(β =-0.31, t =-5.81, p 0.01; β =-0.28, t =-5.27, p 0.01); euphemistic labeling was the strongest predictor to positively predict antisocial behavior towards teammates(β = 0.23, t = 4.16, p 0.01); conduct reconstrual was the strongest predictor which could significantly and positively predict antisocial behavior towards opponents(β = 0.25, t = 5.33, p 0.01). The present study contributes to research into moral disengagement in sports by developing a valid measurement instrument for moral disengagement in Chinese athletes, and by analyzing the relationship between sport moral disengagement and prosocial and antisocial behavior towards teammates and opponents in Chinese athletes.

The effects of moral identity on moral emotion and antisocial behavior in sport.

Given the prevalence and significance of antisocial behavior in sport, researchers have begun to explore the role that self conscious moral emotions play in reducing such behavior. In this research, we examined whether moral identity inhibits antisocial behaviour and whether these effects are mediated by anticipated guilt. Using a cross-sectional design, Study 1 showed that moral identity was negatively related to antisocial behavior. Study 2 found that the negative association between moral identity and antisocial behavior was mediated by anticipated feelings of guilt. Using an experimental design, Study 3 showed that priming moral identity reduced antisocial behavior, and this effect was mediated by moral judgment, and in turn, anticipated guilt. The present findings suggest that athletes with a robust internalized moral self-schema are less likely to engage in antisocial behavior because of the intense feelings of guilt they are likely to experience when they engage in such behavior.

Executive Function Is Associated With Antisocial Behavior and Aggression in Athletes.

Poor executive function has been linked to increased antisocial and aggressive behavior in clinical and nonclinical populations. The present study investigated the relationship between executive and nonexecutive cognitive function and antisocial behavior in sport as well as reactive and proactive aggression. Cognitive function was assessed in young adult male and female athletes using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB). Antisocial behavior in sport and aggression were assessed via self-report instruments and were found to be positively correlated. Executive function (but not nonexecutive function) scores were negatively correlated with both self-reported antisocial behavior and aggression in males but not females. Our findings suggest that prefrontal deficits among male athletes could contribute to poor impulse control and difficulty in anticipating the consequences of their antisocial and aggressive behavior.

Youth's perceptions of rule-breaking and antisocial behaviours: Gender, developmental level, and competitive level differences

The present study was designed to assess young athlete's perceived frequency of observing antisocial behaviour in sport, perceived frequency of rule-breaking in sport, and the perceived rationale for why youth are engaging in rule-breaking in sport. The sample consisted of 2479 youth drawn from across the USA. A majority of youth reported observing some type of rule-breaking in sport. The most common perceived rationales for rule-breaking involved aspects surrounding the pursuit of winning. Even though rule-breaking had been observed by a majority of youth in sport, antisocial behaviours were typically perceived to occur infrequently. Gender, developmental level, and competitive level differences were observed. However, in general, there were a small number of group differences, and participants typically viewed these issues more similarly than differently. Overall, youth are perceiving a positive sport environment in which they play.