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

Abstract

Social 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 (M = 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.

Prosocial and antisocial behaviour in sport

“…More qualitative studies that help us better understand the sport experience from the perspective of the participants (e.g. Bruner et al, 2017) would also be enlightening, as would be studies employing multilevel modelling that take into consideration group membership. More research is also needed on bracketed morality in sport to enhance our understanding of how behaviour varies across contexts.…”

A Qualitative Investigation of Young Footballers’ Perceptions Regarding Developmental Experiences

“…On the positive side, there were comments related to the development of team climate and more generally to relationship development, encouraging and inspiring each other. Similar accounts have been offered by Bruner et al (2017) regarding young ice hockey athletes who felt that pro social interactions with their teammates enhanced their social identity. Also, Fraser-Thomas and Côté (2009) noticed that through swimming the young athletes identified opportunities to develop close and unique friendships built on common interests.…”

Understanding Social Identity and Intrateam Moral Behavior in Competitive Youth Ice Hockey: A Narrative Perspective

“…Support to substantiate this possible bidirectional relationship between moral behavior and social identity can be drawn from recent research in sport (Bruner et al, 2016), as well as the extant social and organizational psychology literature (Goldman, Giles, & Hogg, 2014;Penner, Dovidio, Piliavin, & Schroeder, 2005). First, Bruner and colleagues found that youth-sport participants uniformly reported how prosocial interactions with teammates enhanced their social identity.…”

“…In addition to this initial quantitative research, a recent qualitative study has examined social identity and moral behavior in youth-sport participants using stimulated recall interviews (Bruner et al, 2016). Among other findings, this study identified possible reciprocal relationships between social identity and moral behavior in sport.…”

“…Importantly, individuals who identify strongly with their group have been found to behave more positively with group members than nongroup members (Nezlek & Smith, 2005) and display more prosocial behavior toward group members and antisocial behavior toward outgroup members (Hornstein, 1976). However, sport-specific work on social identity has been quite limited to date, with only two studies investigating the relationship between social identity and sport team performance (Murrell & Gaertner, 1992;Zucchermaglio, 2005), and just two studying the association between social identity and moral behavior (Bruner, Boardley, Allan, Root, Buckham, Forrest & Côté., 2016;Bruner, Boardley, & Côté, 2014). Bruner and colleagues (2014) investigated the relationship between social identity and moral behavior in youth sport.…”