Coaching efficacy, moral disengagement, and responses to hostile aggression among high school coaches Academic Article uri icon

Abstract

  • Both moral disengagement and aggression have been studied sporadically within athlete populations. However, there has been limited research addressing the moral disengagement of
    sport coaches and their perspectives on the aggressive behaviors of athletes. Therefore, the aims of this mixed-methods study were to examine correlations between coaches’ moral disengagement and their coaching efficacy, and to assess coaches’ justifications of and consequences for the hostile aggression exhibited by their athletes. High school coaches in the United States (N=449) completed online surveys that included the Moral Disengagement in Sport Scale (MDSS), Coaching Efficacy Scale II-High School Teams (CES II-HST), and
    questions regarding their beliefs about and responses to athlete’s hostile aggressive behaviors. Results showed that coaches’ moral disengagement, both generally within sport and specifically in regard to athletes’ aggression, was inversely correlated with their coaching efficacy scores. Based on coaches’ responses to the questions about hostile aggression, it appears that a coach’s gender plays a role in their justification for hostile aggression, but not the gender of the athletes nor the extent to which violence appears in the sport being coached. Finally, the consequences for hostile aggression most frequently reported by the coaches were punishments associated with reduced playing time and additional physical conditioning, while far fewer coaches reported implementing specific character development techniques. The findings of this study provide a
    foundation for understanding the various ways coaches rationalize and respond to athletes’ hostile aggression.

Publication Date

  • 2018-07-01