Southern Comfort?: Exploring Regional Differences in the Relationship Between Fan Identification and Sense of Community Among College Students

Abstract

Identification with sports teams has been linked with such constructs as membership esteem (Murrell & Dietz, 1992), prosocial behavior (Platow et al., 1999), and attitudes (Wann & Branscombe, 1993). Using the Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1986) and, subsequently, identity salience (Stryker, 1980), the current research sought to examine if said identification was linked with perceptions of sense of community, and if this relationship differed between northern and southern respondents. Data revealed southern respondents showing significantly greater levels of sense of community and fan identification (ps<.001). Further, fan identification exhibited significant predictability of sense of community (R²∆= .11, p<.001) after controlling for appropriate variables. Moreover, this relationship was significantly mediated by regional affiliation (Sobel's test =3.59, p<.001).