Exploring Predictors of Moral Disengagement in Collegiate Athletic Trainers.

CONTEXT: Considering recent high-profile reports of malpractice and negligence by National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) athletic trainers (ATs), it is prudent to investigate the psychological mechanisms that may influence ATs' ability to justify unethical behaviors. When treating injured student-athletes, ATs may undergo a cognitive process known as moral disengagement, which involves convincing oneself that ethical standards do not apply in a particular context. OBJECTIVE: To explore the psychological factors and traits among ATs that may predict moral disengagement pertaining to allowing athletes to play through injuries. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Online survey. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS: A total of 187 Division I, II, and III ATs from 100 NCAA universities. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): In addition to the primary outcome variable of moral disengagement, the survey captured the AT's demographic background, sport and athletic training histories, and measures of sport ethic, contesting orientations, commitment, and social identity. RESULTS: Cluster analysis was used to identify homogeneous subgroups of participants based on these variables. A 2-cluster solution emerged, with cluster 1 (n = 94) scoring higher in the sport-ethic and sport-contesting orientations but lower in commitment and social identity compared with cluster 2 (n = 93). An independent-samples t test revealed that moral disengagement was highest (t185 = 19.59, P < .001, d = 0.69) among ATs in cluster 1. CONCLUSIONS: These findings advance our understanding of the psychological processes that may predict moral disengagement of ATs in allowing student-athletes to play through injury. Although additional research is needed to test whether moral disengagement influences return-to-play decisions, we provide initial evidence that ATs who conform to sport norms (eg, "no pain, no gain") and who tend to view sport competition with a "war-like" orientation are more likely to morally disengage.

Relations Among Victimization, Witnessing, and Perpetration of Aggression: Impact of Gender Among Youth Offenders.

The participants included 251 (158 males; 93 females) youth offenders who were arrested and incarcerated in a juvenile facility in the Midwest United States. The aims were to assess (a) how often they were a victim, a witness, and/or a perpetrator of social aggression, simple assault, and aggravated assault during the past year; (b) to examine whether exposure (either witness or victim or both) predicted committing three types of aggressive behaviors; and (c) to assess the impact of gender among the youth offenders. Differential predictability models were utilized to assess gender differences. The findings revealed that gender was an important predictor. For example, females reported higher rates of being a witness, a victim, and a perpetrator of social aggression than did males. Moreover, female offenders committed simple assault more often than males and males committed aggravated assault more often than females. The general results suggest that it is important to examine the various forms of aggression, and exposure, as well as how gender affects these relationships.

Everyone Else Is Doing It: The Association Between Social Identity and Susceptibility to Peer Influence in NCAA Athletes.

The authors examined athletes' conformity to teammates' risky behaviors through a performance-based manipulation paradigm. They hypothesized that athletes who strongly identified with their team would be at increased risk of conforming to teammates' behaviors. Athletes (N = 379) from 23 intact National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) teams completed surveys (e.g., social identity) and reported the extent to which they would engage in risky behavior scenarios (e.g., drinking and driving). Then, researchers displayed ostensible responses that were manipulated to appear as though teammates reported high engagement in the risky behaviors. Finally, athletes again responded to the hypothetical scenarios and a conformity index was created. Results indicated that social identity, at both individual and group levels, positively predicted conformity-indicating that athletes with stronger social identities are more susceptible to peer influence. Although these findings highlight a pernicious aspect of social identity, they also provide insight into how group-level processes could be leveraged to prevent risky behaviors in student-athletes.

Moral Behavior in the Locker Room Predicts Perceptions of Task Cohesion in Youth Ice Hockey Player.

Task cohesion (i.e., perceptions of team unity towards a task goal and positive feelings towards one's own involvement) is associated with myriad psychosocial benefits for youth athletes. Accordingly, sport researchers and youth sport stakeholders are interested in ways of fostering task cohesion. Recent work has found evidence that prosocial and antisocial behaviors among teammates are associated with athletes' perceptions of task cohesion; however, this research has been limited to moral behavior that takes place during gameplay. Despite youth sport experiences extending well beyond practices and games, we know very little about how moral behavior between teammates, in settings outside gameplay, relates to perceptions of task cohesion. To address this knowledge gap, the current study investigated whether prosocial and antisocial behaviors in the locker room setting were associated with perceptions of task cohesion in a sample of 238 youth male ice hockey players (Mage = 10.75). Using hierarchical regression analyses, our results revealed that (a) perceptions of peer prosocial behavior was positively associated with task cohesion, (b) perceptions of peer antisocial behavior was negatively associated with task cohesion, and (c) self-reported perceptions of participants' own moral behavior was not significantly associated with task cohesion. Given the association with perceptions of task cohesion, these findings underline the value in promoting prosocial behavior and reducing antisocial behavior in sport settings outside gameplay and hold multiple theoretical and practical implications. Notably, moral behavior that takes place outside gameplay settings may be related to perceptions of task cohesion that primarily relates to goals and interactions during gameplay.