Speaker
Description
While research traditionally emphasizes the role of school and family in fostering youth anti-bullying behavior, sports can also help youngsters develop social skills (Bisagno et al., 2024). In youth sports, a key environmental factor is the motivational climate initiated by coaches and peers (Atkins et al., 2015). A mastery climate, emphasizing commitment over performance (Duda et al., 2014), promotes task orientation and reduces antisocial behavior (Kavussanu et al., 2007) while a prevailing performance-oriented climate can lead to opposite outcomes. Despite evidence linking motivational climate with social behavior during competitions, its influence on anti-bullying behavior on- and off-field is less known. To address this, we studied 690 youth athletes aged 8 to 13 years old (332 girls, Mage: 11.00 ±1 .53) to examine links between coach- and peer-initiated motivational climate (mastery vs performance), individual motivational orientation (task vs ego), and youngsters’ anti-bullying behaviors and intentions to defend victims, also considering the type of sport (individual vs team).
Mediation analyses (R Core Team, 2024) showed that coach- and peer-initiated mastery climate was positively associated with anti-bullying behaviors and intentions to defend victims, both directly and through task orientation. Conversely, performance climate was indirectly and negatively associated with anti-bullying behaviors and intentions to defend victims via ego orientation. Multigroup analyses did not reveal differential associations between individual and team sports.
These results highlight the role of sport as an educational agency influencing youth’s anti-bullying behaviour on- and off-field and support the involvement of different social actors (coaches and peers) to achieve this result.
Keywords
Youth sport; Motivational climate; Coaches; Teammates; Bystanders' intervention
| Please also indicate what kind of contribution it is: | Scientific |
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| Please indicate what type of scientific contribution it is | Quantitative method study |
