The Relationship between Moral Climate of Sports and the Moral Behavior of Young Athletes: A Multilevel Meta-analysis

Abstract

Sports are among the most important leisure activities for youth and adolescents. Both positive (i.e., prosocial) and negative (i.e., antisocial) moral behaviors occur on the playing field. To stimulate positive sports experiences, it is important to understand which factors are related to the moral behavior of young athletes; one of these is the moral climate, that is, the socio-moral environment in which sports take place. Little is known about the overall strength of the relationship between moral climate and moral behavior of young athletes, as well as the potential moderating factors of this relationship. A meta-analysis of 27 studies containing 117 effect sizes and N = 7726 young athletes (age < 18 years) was conducted. The results show that there is an overall significant association between these two variables ( r = 0.40), indicating that a prosocial moral climate is related to less antisocial and more prosocial behavior, while an antisocial moral climate is associated with more antisocial and less prosocial behavior of young athletes. Two study characteristics significantly moderated this relationship: specifically, stronger associations were found in cross-sectional and in older studies. In addition, the strength of the association between moral climate and moral behavior was stronger for antisocial moral climate compared to prosocial moral climate. Finally, associations for team members were stronger than those of coaches or a broad moral club climate. Implications for further research and sports practice are discussed.

Antisocial Behavior in Soccer Players: Using an Integrated Mediation Model of Personal Control and Social Learning Theory

“…It is influenced by personal controls and the social learning process as described by three competitive criminological theories: social learning (Akers, 1998), self‐control (Gottfredson and Hirschi, 1990), and control balance theory (Tittle, 1995). This is consistent with previous research in the sport domain (Chan et al., 2015; Chen et al., 2019; Kabiri et al., 2018a, 2018b, ; Kabiri and Donner, 2019; Kabiri, Shadmanfaat, and Donner, 2019; Kabiri, Shadmanfaat, and Willits, 2019; Miller, Roberts, and Ommundsen, 2005; Ohl et al., 2015; Ruiz et al., 2019; Spruit et al., 2019). Our study supports previous research that documents athletes’ personal control (low self‐control and control deficit) and social learning process increases the possibility of engagement in aggressive and cheating behaviors (i.e., antisocial behaviors).…”

“…The literature also indicates that moral disengagement (Boardley and Kavussanu, 2009; Stanger et al., 2018; van de Pol, Kavussanu, and Claessens, 2018), motivational climate and coach–players interaction (Boardley and Kavussanu, 2009; Miller, Roberts, and Ommundsen, 2005; Ommundsen et al., 2003; Stanger et al., 2018; van de Pol, Kavussanu, and Claessens, 2018), moral climate (Guivernau and Duda, 2002; Spruit et al., 2019), anticipated shaming and guilt (Kavussanu, Stanger, and Ring, 2015; Stanger et al., 2013), coaching climate (Bartholomew, Ntoumanis, and Thøgersen‐Ntoumani, 2011; Hodge and Gucciardi, 2015), and peer deviant behavior (Benson and Bruner, 2018; Benson, Bruner, and Eys, 2017) play a role in the prevalence of antisocial behavior in sport.…”

“…Examples of antisocial behaviors include the intentional injuring of an opponent, cheating, lying, time‐wasting, intimidating, and excessive aggression (Benson, Bruner, and Eys, 2017; Boardley and Kavussanu, 2009; Hodge and Lonsdale, 2011; Kavussanu, Stanger, and Ring, 2015; Malete, Chow, and Feltz, 2013; Miller, Roberts, and Ommundsen, 2005). Negative behavior in sport can undermine the legitimacy of the sport itself and pose a threat to the norms of sportsmanship and prosocial behaviors (Kavussanu, Stanger, and Ring, 2015; Spruit et al., 2019). While antisocial behaviors such as cheating and excessive aggression have long been part of sport and competition, criminologists have paid little attention to this line of inquiry to date.…”

Systematic Observation of the Verbal Behavior of Families of Youth Athletes in Grassroots and Team Sports

“…Although it has not been possible to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between inappropriate comments and violent behavior in sport, there is no doubt that such inappropriate comments generate an aggressive atmosphere that, on occasions, can lead to violent behavior. Parental and spectator pressure in games and matches may cause athletes to doubt their moral decisions on behavior, in line with the ethical foundations of the sport [13]. Parents are the most relevant socioeducational agents in sport, so the most successful athletes received more support from their parents [14,15].…”

Youth Athletes’ Moral Decision Making Levels and Sportspersonship Behavior Levels of Coaches

“…However, phenomena inside the sports such as competition and ambition towards winning affect moral decision making and sportspersonship behaviors positively/negatively (Alemdağ, 2019;Mallia et al, 2019). It is an undeniable fact that the moral attitude and behaviors of especially youth-sports athletes are affected by technical and tactical skills and training capacity of coaches along with their strong behaviors that can bring victory to their athletes/teams; in addition their contribution to the result of the competitions (Spruit et al, 2019).…”