Moral development in sport context : utopia or reality?

Part of : Hellenic journal of psychology ; Vol.4, No.2, 2007, pages 163-184

Issue:
Pages:
163-184
Author:
Abstract:
The aim of the present study was to examine (a) if athletes' moral judgment is affectedby sport type, the level of competition - in terms of the league in which one competes- and regular playing position, and (b) possible relations between moral judgmentand the overall years of athletic experience, self-perception of sport ability, and achievementgoal orientations. The sample comprised 170 adolescent athletes from three different sports:tennis (n = 59), football (n = 58) and handball (n = 53). Three questionnaires were used:the Moral Judgment Test (MJT; Lind, 1978) to assess players' moral judgment, the Task andEgo Orientation in Sports Questionnaire (TEOSQ; Duda & Nicholls, 1992) to assess players'goal orientations, and the same questionnaire adapted to assess players' perceived goalorientations of their coaches (TEOSQ-PPC). Also, players' perceived sport ability as wellas demographic data was reported. The ANOVAs revealed that tennis, as compared to handballathletes, scored significantly higher in MJT C-index (Moral Competence Index) and sodid the amateurs (n = 114), as compared to professionals (n = 56). Playing position did nothave a significant effect on C-index. Furthermore, the C-index positively correlated with perceivedsport ability and task orientation. There was a low negative correlation with ego orientation.In addition, there was a nonsignificant negative correlation between the C-indexand years of athletic experience.
Subject:
Subject (LC):
Keywords:
moral judgment, sport, task orientation
Notes:
Περιέχει πίνακες και βιβλιογραφία, Special issue: Issues in personality and cognition