The Verbal Aggression of Spectators at Youth Baseball Games: Investigating the Impact of Competition Level, Team Identification, and Fan Dysfunction

Abstract

Previous research had found that level of team identification was positively associated with aggression at youth sporting events (Wann, Weaver, Belva, Ladd, & Armstrong, 2015). The current investigation was designed to extend this work by incorporating fan dysfunction into the model (i.e., fans who are confrontational and frequently complain). Spectators at either a recreational or select (i.e., travel) youth baseball game completed a survey packet assessing demographics, team identification with their favorite Major League Baseball team, identification with the youth team, fan dysfunction, and hostile and instrumental verbal aggression directed toward officials and opponents. Results indicated that, contrary to expectations, team identification was not a unique predictor of verbal aggression. Rather, fan dysfunction predicted each form of aggression, aggression toward both targets, and total aggression.

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

“…The third hypothesis was also confirmed, given that statistically significant differences were identified in the negative comments made according to the sporting category (28% more were registered in the U13s than in the U11s category). In contrast with our findings, in recent studies [23,34], no association between the age of athletes and the verbal aggression of spectators was found, related to some theories about [35].…”

“…Hence, the aim of this study was to analyze the verbal behavior (categorized into three kinds of comments: positive, negative, and neutral) of family spectators of school-age (9-15 years old) sports teams as well as to study potential sociodemographic and sport-related differences (sex of player, geographical area, sports club, sport modality, and age group). According to previous studies [20][21][22][23], the preliminary hypothesis is: (1) the number of negative comments made in matches played in rural areas will be greater than the number recorded in urban areas; (2) in the verbal behavior of family spectators at basketball games, there will be a higher number of comments (positive, negative, and neutral) compared with the other sports analyzed; and, (3) the number of negative comments made by family spectators will rise as the sporting category increases.…”

Analysis of Burnout and Psychosocial Factors in Grassroot Football Referees

“…Due to the climatology and orographic conditions of Asturias, outdoors soccer is only held with players ten years old and older, while those under that age play futsal in sport centers. Therefore, the grassroots football collective in Asturias falls into categories according to the age of the players: youth (10-11 years), children (12)(13), cadet (14)(15), juvenile (16)(17)(18), and amateur soccer (above 18 years, in regional categories up to Third Division).…”

“…The above factors make that, even if it is the collective that needs the most support, it is one of the least attended [13,14]. In this context it is common for any referee, initially oriented to intrinsic goals related to sports enjoyment, relationship with people and personal development, to progressively lose his motivation and experience higher levels of stress, which is associated with the risk of suffering the so-called burnout or burnout syndrome and the resignation to arbitration [15][16][17][18].…”

Medición de procesos psicológicos y sociales en aficionados al deporte: adaptación al español del Identification with a Psychological Group Scale y Moral Disengagement in Sport Scale

“…Aquellas personas con una fuerte identificación con el equipo manifiestan un mayor odio hacia el rival, una mayor percepción de idoneidad de las agresiones entre aficionados (Toder-Alon et al, 2022) y una mayor intención de realizar comportamientos agresivos contra los rivales (Hilliard y Johnson, 2018). En concreto la identificación con el equipo es un predictor importante en una amplia variedad de conductas agresivas en aficionados, incluyendo agresiones hostiles e instrumentales (Toder-Alon et al, 2019), físicas y verbales (Wann et al, 2017).…”