Marathon. Vol. VI ⢠Nr. 1 ⢠2014. 109 behavior and the dimensions of moral orientation and goal orientation. Another aim of this study is to investigate the rate to ...
Marathon
MORAL ORIENTATION AND GOAL ORIENTATION AS MEANS OF PREDICTION OF AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIORS IN HANDBALL PLAYERS Ath YANNAKOS1 M. PROIOS L. PAPASTERGIOU
Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between aggressive behavior and dimensions of moral orientation and goal orientation of handball players. Another aim of this study was to investigate the percentage used to display each type of aggression per area during a game. The participants were 18 young athletes aged 19 to 21 years of the Greek National Team, who participated in the World Handball Championship held in Thessaloniki in 2011. They filled the Moral Orientation in Physical Education Questionnaire (MOPEQ; Proios, 2010a) and Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire (TEOSQ; Duda & Nicholls, 1992). The examination of players’ aggressive behavior was achieved via observation (video analysis) by means of a specific program SportScout. The results revealed no statistically significant relationship between aggression (hostile and instrumental), and moral orientation (deontological and teleological) and target orientation (task and ego). This is possibly due to the small sample numbers in the short space of a single tournament.
Keywords: Sport, aggression, moral orientation, goal orientation, handball. JEL classification: I19, I29
1. Introduction Aggression is the behavior that is intended to cause harm or injury (Berkowitz, 1983). The psychologists believe that aggression is divided into two forms and the hostile and the instrumental (Buss, 1961; Feshbach, 1970; Rule, 1974; Husman & Silva, 1984). The aim of the hostile aggression is mainly to bring injury, psychological violence to another person or to cause destructive and criminal activities (Tenenbaum, Stewart, Singer, & Duda, 1996), while the instrumental aggression is related to the search of some non-hostile targets. Aggressive behavior in sports is not presented as an innate desire or as something undesirable but depends on the interpretation of situations (Weinberg & Gould, 1995). 1
Ath. Yannakos, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece M. Proios, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece L. Papastergiou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Vol. VI • Nr. 1 • 2014
107
Moral Orientation And Goal Orientation as Means of Prediction of Aggressive Behaviors in Handball Players The study of aggression through various theories was an attempted for several decades. According to the theory of social learning, aggression is explained as a behavior learned through observation of other behavioral patterns, which then becomes the cause for demonstration of such acts (Weinberg and Gould, 1995). Apart from the view, expressed by theorists of social learning on the subject of motivation of aggression, there are other more recent theories, which explain in more detail this behavior. One of which is the theory of goal orientation in sports context (Nicholls, 1989). Nicholls suggested that goal achievement (achieving high skill or capacity) is achieved through two main orientations (task and ego). Another theory, which was considered as useful for the investigation of what causes aggression, is the moral development theory (Kohlberg, 1984). This theory holds that moral reasoning plays an important role in determining the moral choice and moral behavior (Blasi, 1980; Candee, 1976; Candee & Kohlberg, 1987; Kurtines & Greif, 1974). The aggressive behavior in sports has been called as the key of a successful athlete (Tutko, Lyon, & Ogilvie, 1969). Rascle, Coulomb, and Delsarte (2005) have proven that high-level players had higher instrumental aggression in relation to low-level players. Coulomb and Pfister (1998) noticed that players of the National League showed higher scores in instrumental aggression. A survey conducted by Stornes (2001) on handball athletes, has proven that, the players were less aggressive as long as the game was favorable to them. Findings of studies, where the motivation of athletes’ aggressive behavior was examined, have shown that there is a positive relationship with ego orientation (Treasure, 2000), while the task orientation relates with behaviors that are incombatible to aggression such as fun elements, justice elements, moral elements and respect elements towards the opposite team (Dunn & Dunn, 1999; Sage & Kavussanu, 2007). Furthermore, Duda, Olson, and Templin (1991) have proven, that a low and a high task ego in goal orientation is associated with high probability of existence of an aggressive act welcomed as more legitimate, namely damage to an opponent so she/he can stay out for a period. Other studies findings have argued that non-aggressive behavior has a positive relationship with the cognitive moral development (Blasi, 1980). The relationship between moral development and aggression was also supported by the findings of other studies (Bredemeier & Shields, 1984; Bredemeier, 1985). Bredemeier, Weiss, Shields, and Cooper (1986), and Bredemeier, Shields, Weiss, and Cooper (1987) argued that the low maturity of moral reasoning is associated with a greater tendency toward aggression. The examination of factors likely to encourage aggressive behavior in sport seems to be a matter of the utmost importance. This is because sport is considered to be an environment where the character of children can be developed. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between handball players’ aggressive 108
Vol. VI• Nr. 1 • 2014
Marathon behavior and the dimensions of moral orientation and goal orientation. Another aim of this study is to investigate the rate to which appears every form of aggression per area during a match. In this study we considered that the instrumental aggressive behavior will be linked to concepts that have relation to positive behaviors such as ethical and moral orientation and goal orientation, while the hostile aggressive behavior was considered to be associated with negative behaviors as manifested through the teleological moral orientation and ego goal orientation. 2. Methods 2.1 Participants Participants were 18 Youth Greek National Team athletes. Their age varied from 19 to 21 years. They participated in the World Handball Championship held in Thessaloniki in 2011. Participation in the survey was voluntary. 2.2 Measurements Moral orientation was measured using the Moral Orientation Students in Physical Education Questionnaire (MOSPEQ; Proios, 2010a). MOSPEQ consists of 14 items, of which 7 items represent deontological and 7 items teleological ethics definitions of moral orientation in decision making in physical education settings. In order the needs of the present study to be satisfied, stem was modified by changing the term physical education with the term sports. Thus, the items were prefaced with the heading, "Do I believe that my actions in sport are characterized by ...". For each item, subjects responded on a 9-point Likert-type scale anchored from 1 (strongly disagree) to 9 (strongly agree). Achievement goals. A validated Greek version (Papaioannou & McDonald, 1993) of the Task and Ego Orientation in Sports Questionnaire (TEOSQ; Duda & Nicholls, 1992) was used in order to assess dispositional goal orientations. The stem was "I feel most successful in my sport when ..." TEOSQ is a questionnaire consisting of 13-items. It includes two independent subscales measuring task (seven items; e.g., I learn new skills) and ego (six items; e.g., I come first) orientations as regards participation in sports. For each item, subjects responded on a 5-point Likert- type scale anchored from 5 (strongly agree) to 1 (strongly disagree). TEOSQ has demonstrated adequate internal consistency with satisfactory alpha coefficients for both the task (a = .79) and ego (a = .81) subscales (Duda & Whitehead, 1998).
Vol. VI • Nr. 1 • 2014
109
Moral Orientation And Goal Orientation as Means of Prediction of Aggressive Behaviors in Handball Players Assessing aggression. The estimation of the players’ aggressive behavior was through observation (video analysis) by means of a specific program -SportScout. For the purposes of video analysis two evaluators were trained by a group of trainers. The evaluation of players’ athletic aggressive behavior (instrumental and hostile) was achieved through a 5-pointLikert-typescale, which examined the degree of risk of foul (retaining, repelling, hitting). 3. Results Descriptive statistics (Table 1) showed that the players had greater scores in instrumental (M = 1.51, SD = 1.10) than in the hostile aggression (M = .78, SD = 9.95). As concerning the dimensions of moral orientation the players scored higher in teleological (M = 8.28, SD = .75) than in the deontological orientation (M = 7.39, SD = 1.14). As concerning goal orientation, they scored higher in task (M = 3.78, SD = .54) than in the ego orientation (M = 2.72, SD = .75). Table 1 Descriptive Statistics for all variables Variables Instrumental Hostile Deontological Teleological Task Ego
M 1.51 .78 7.39 8.28 3.78 2.72
SD 1.10 9.95 1.14 .75 .54 .75
The results of the examining of the percentage of aggressive actions by region in comparison with the instrumental aggression (see Table 2) revealed that the degree of intensity (1) a larger percentage (15.68%) occurred in the position of the left central defender, while a smaller percentage (.29%) occurred in the left side defender area. The degree of intensity (2) was found to have a greater percentage (14.53%) in the position of the left center-defender, and a smaller percentage (1.01%) in the left side of the defense. The degree of intensity (3) was found to have a greater percentage (7.63%) in the position of the right central defender, and a smaller percentage (0.43%) in the left side of the defense. The degree of intensity (4) occurred at a higher rate (2.59%) in the position of the right central defense, and smaller (.14%) in the left side of the defense. Finally, the degree of intensity (5) occurred at a higher rate (1.29%) in the position of the left central defender, and smaller (.14%) in the positions left side and right side of defense.
110
Vol. VI• Nr. 1 • 2014
Marathon Table 2 Aggressive Actions instrumental Aggression by region Area
Degree of intensity of aggression 1 2 3 4 Left side defender .29% 1.01% 0.43% 0.14% (n=2) (n=7) (n=3) (n=1) Right side defender .58% 1.58% 1.29% 0.29% (n=4) (n=11) (n=9) (n=2) Left intermediate defender 1.58% 6.91% 4.17% 1.73% (n=11) (n=48) (n=29) (n=12) Right intermediate defender 3.31% 7.77% 5.04% 2.30% (n=23) (n=54) (n=35) (n=16) Αριστερός κεντρικός 15.68% 14.53% 2.73% 1.01% αμυντικός (n=109) (n=101) (n=19) (n=7) Right central defender 3.60% 10.50% 7.63% 2.59% (n=25) (n=73) (n=53) (n=18) Total 174 294 148 56
Total 5 0.14% (n=1) 0.14% (n=1) 0.72% (n=5) 0.29% (n=2) 1.29% (n=9) 0.72% (n=5) 23
14 27 105 130 245 23 695
Furthermore, the results for the percentage of aggressive actions by region relative to the hostile aggression (see Table 3) revealed that the degree of intensity (1) by a larger percentage (20.93%) occurred in the position of the right central defense while by a smaller percentage (2.33 %) occurred in right lateral position defense. Table 3 Aggressive Actions by region to the Hostile Aggression Area Right side defender Left side defender Right intermediate defender Left intermediate defender Right central defender Total
Degree of intensity of aggression 1 2 3 2.33% 0% 2.33% (n=1) (n=0) (n=1) 16.28% 4.65% 4.65% (n=7) (n=2) (n=2) 13.95% 4.65% 0% (n=6) (n=2) (n=0) 13.95% 0% 0% (n=6) (n=0) (n=0) 20.93% 6.98% 9.30% (n=9) (n=3) (n=4) 29 7 7
Total 2 11 8 6 16 43
The degree of intensity (2) was found to have a greater percentage (6.98%) in place of a forward defender and a smaller percentage (4.65%) in the position of the right and left intermediate defensive player. Finally, the degree of intensity (3) occurred at a higher rate (9.30%) in the position of the right central defense and at a lower (2.33%) in the right side defense position.
Vol. VI • Nr. 1 • 2014
111
Moral Orientation And Goal Orientation as Means of Prediction of Aggressive Behaviors in Handball Players 3.1 Correlations Pearson product-moment correlations were computed among scale scores (see Table 4). The results have shown a positive correlation between the two types of aggression, instrumental and hostile (r = .564, p
