Acceptability of dating violence among late adolescents: the role of sports participation, competitive attitudes, and selected dynamics of relationship violence

Adolescence, March 22, 2008 by Michael J. Merten

As a final step, all interactions among case and respondent characteristics were tested. However, only the three interactions reaching statistical significance are included in the model (Model 5, Table 4). The three interaction effects involve the initiator-recipient gender combination, two with case-level and one with a respondent-level variable. First, the direction of the initiator act by initiator-recipient gender combination interaction coefficient ([beta] = .18, SE = .03, p < .001) indicates that the relationship between initiator act and acceptability of the recipient's reaction is stronger for the M-to-F than for the F-to-M gender combination. That is, the severity of the initiator's violence has a stronger relationship with the acceptability of the recipient's reaction to the violence for male initiators against female recipients than for female initiators against male recipients.

Next, the coefficient for the recipient reaction by initiator-recipient gender combination interaction ([beta] = -.09, SE = .03, p < .01) indicates that the relationship between the recipient's reaction and the acceptability of violence is stronger for the F-to-M combination than for the M-to-F combination. The severity of male reactions to female-initiated violence is more influential in judgments about the acceptability of violence than the severity of female reactions to male-initiated violence.

For the interaction involving the respondent-level variable, need to win by initiator-recipient gender combination, the coefficient ([beta] = .15, SE = .03, p < .001) indicates that need to win's relationship with the acceptability of violence is stronger for the M-to-F combination than for F-to-M. In other words, participants with a high need to win attitude are more supportive of female reactions to male-initiated violence than are those with a low need to win attitude. The decreasing Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), a goodness of fit measure, illustrates the increasing fit to the data across incremental models throughout Table 4. In addition, the respondent-level variable, need to win, remains statistically significant throughout all models indicating that this variable has a significant relationship with the acceptability of violence independently of case-level characteristics.

DISCUSSION

A popular debate has arisen concerning the role of organized sport participation in the development and promotion of prosocial attitudes in young people (Gough, 1998). Participation in sports has been linked positively to self-esteem (Kavussanu & Harnisch, 2000) and achievement attitudes (Curry, Snyder, Cook, Ruby, & Rehm, 1997). However, competitive sports may also be linked to detrimental aspects of development in young people. The current study adds an important dimension to the understanding of athletes and violence in interpersonal relationships. First, as hypothesized, only need to win is related to acceptability of violence, not athletic involvement or competitiveness. This finding supports the notion that competitiveness and need to win should not be considered a single construct, but two distinct constructs. It is individuals' need to win attitude, not their competitiveness or mere participation in athletic activities that leads to a more accepting attitude toward interpersonal violence. These findings suggest that the relationship between sports and dating violence promoted by the media and others may be an overgeneralization, one that unjustly lumps all athletes together.