Condoning aggressive behaviour in sport: A cross-sectional research in a few consecutive age categories

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare the way in which 216 young handball players (Mage = 12.79, SD = 2.20) of different ages (nine- to 10-years-old, 11- to 12-years-old, 13- to 14-years-old, and 15- to 16-years-old) combined and integrated five different information cues (the consequences of the aggression, the current score, the time left to play, the context of the aggression, the relative importance of the game) for judging the extent to which an aggressive act performed by a player during a match of handball could be condoned. The participants indicated their judgement in 48 scenarios constructed from the combination of these information cues. A cluster analysis has been done. Two different positions on moral judgement were observed. The information cues were combined differently and moral judgement increased according the young players’ age. The approach of information integration completes the previous studies on developmental moral judgement in sport.

Keywords:

• Sport
• moral judgement
• moral development
• young players
• information integration

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Neil Rowlandson and Gerry Hahlo of Leicester University for their help.