Comparisons of Rates and Forms of Aggression Among Members of Men's and Women's Collegiate Recreational Flag Football Teams

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare rates and forms of aggression among members of men's and women's recreational flag football teams during loosely supervised recreational periods on a college campus. We obtained data on forms of aggression using an event recording system. The data supported the hypothesis that overall rates of aggression were higher among male teams. It turned out that the frequency of the three forms of aggression that we observed across men's and women's teams had the same rank order, but that the relative proportions of the three forms of aggression were quite different. The implications of these findings for future research on aggression and on the supervision of recreational teams are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• aggressive behavior
• athletics
• behavioral community
• gender differences
• recreation
• sport

This optional project was completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements of an undergraduate Psychology course taught by the third author.

We thank Elizabeth Brunelle in the SUNY Cortland Recreational Department for her support of this project.