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Running head: VERBAL AGGRESSION 1 “Case Study – IJSC Volume 6(2)” Coach Verbal Aggression: A Case Study Examining Effects on Athlete Motivation and Perceptions of Coach Credibility Joseph P. Mazer, Katie Barnes, Alexia Grevious, and Caroline Boger Clemson University Contact email: [email protected]

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Coach Verbal Aggression: A Case Study Examining Effects on Athlete Motivation and Perceptions of Coach Credibility Authors: Joseph P. Mazer, Katie Barnes, Alexia Grevious, and Caroline Boger

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Page 1: Coach Verbal Aggression IJSC

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“Case Study – IJSC Volume 6(2)”

!Coach Verbal Aggression: A Case Study Examining Effects on Athlete Motivation and

Perceptions of Coach Credibility

Joseph P. Mazer, Katie Barnes, Alexia Grevious, and Caroline Boger

Clemson University

Contact email: [email protected]

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Abstract

Team sports have become a vital informal learning setting in which athletes are taught,

motivated, and mentored by their coaches (Turman, 2003a). This experimental study examined

the effects of coach verbal aggression on athlete motivation and perceptions of coach credibility.

Results revealed that athletes exposed to a verbally aggressive coach were significantly less

motivated and perceived the coach as less credible when compared to athletes who were exposed

to a coach who used an affirming style. With respect to credibility, athletes perceived a verbally

aggressive coach as significantly less competent, trustworthy, and caring than a coach who used

an affirming style. Implications and areas for future research are discussed. Case study questions

are presented for discussion by scholars and students.

Keywords: verbal aggression, motivation, credibility, coach-athlete relationships

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Coach Verbal Aggression: A Case Study Examining Effects on Athlete Motivation and

Perceptions of Coach Credibility

Compelling data suggests that 90% of American youth participate in at least one

organized team sport before they complete high school (Salva, 2004). In these sports, vital

interpersonal interactions often lead to vibrant informal learning settings in which athletes are

taught, motivated, and mentored by their coaches. In fact, Kassing et al. (2004) argued that

interpersonal interactions between teammates, between parents and their young athletes, and

between coaches and athletes often characterize the context of sport. Kassing and his colleagues

(2004) note that communication defines and shapes the context and experience of sport. In many

ways, the meaning and value of sport experiences are derived from the communication that

transpires within this context and how this communication affects athletes’ motivation and

coaches’ credibility. Motivated athletes tend to report higher levels of satisfaction and exert

greater effort in the sport (Dwyer & Fischer, 1990; Weiss & Friedrichs, 1986). Coaches who are

perceived as credible in the eyes of athletes are able positively influence athletes and promote an

environment in which learning can occur (Turman, 2003a).

Turman (2008) found that coach immediacy behaviors lead athletes to experience greater

satisfaction and team cohesion. Research also suggests a positive association between coaches’

reward and expert power use and athletes’ satisfaction (Turman, 2006). Turman and Schrodt

(2004) found that coaches’ positive feedback and autocratic leadership was positively related to

athletes’ affective learning. Although decades of research have explored how positive

communication behaviors on the part of coaches can lead to positive outcomes on the part of

athletes, the context of competitive sport—without question—is prone to hostile communication

acts of aggression between players, coaches, fans, referees, and parents (Kassing & Sanderson,

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2010). These forms of communication on the part of coaches can negatively affect athletes’

motivation and their perceptions of coaches’ credibility and warrant further investigation.

Aggressive communication consists of four message behaviors—assertiveness,

argumentativeness, hostility, and verbal aggressiveness—through which a sender attempts to

influence a receiver (Infante, 1987). Given that argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness are

the primary forms through which aggressive communication has been examined (Infante &

Rancer, 1996), substantial research on these constructs exists in the communication literature

(Myers, 2003; Rancer & Avtgis, 2006; Schrodt & Finn, 2010). Argumentativeness and verbal

aggressiveness are often conceptualized in contrast to one another, with argumentativeness being

a generally constructive trait and verbal aggression being destructive (Infante, Myers, & Buerkel,

1994). Infante and Rancer (1982) discuss argumentativeness as a trait “which predisposes the

individual in communication situations to advocate positions on controversial issues and to

attack verbally the positions which other people take on these issues” (p. 72). Argumentativeness,

constructive as it may be to decision-making and to a speaker’s individuality, may be perceived

as threatening unless accompanied by other communication behaviors (Gorden, Infante, &

Graham, 1988; Infante & Gorden, 1989).

Norton’s (1983) explication of an affirming communicator style emphasizes how

attentive, friendly, and relaxed behaviors—along with low verbal aggression—can be a

necessary complement to more active and aggressive communication behaviors (Infante &

Gorden, 1991). Despite a limited focus on the relationship between an affirming coaching style

and positive benefits for athletes, research suggests that an affirming style may be advantageous.

In fact, Infante and Gorden (1989) found that argumentative superiors who used an affirming

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style were able to engage in more aggressive forms of communication and realize positive rather

than negative outcomes.

Verbal aggressiveness, on the other hand, is a destructive communication trait that

involves attacking another person’s self-concept to intentionally hurt the receiver (Infante &

Wigley, 1986). Individuals who are the target of verbally aggressive messages often feel

embarrassed, inadequate, and depressed (Infante, 1995). Verbally aggressive messages lead to

negative relationship outcomes and, if they are regularly directed toward one person, they may

constitute psychological abuse (Infante & Rancer, 1996). In the classroom context, students

report lower motivation, satisfaction, and affect and a more hostile learning environment when

they perceive verbal aggression on the part of their teachers (Myers & Knox, 2000; Myers &

Rocca, 2001). Students also consider verbally aggressive teachers as less credible than

instructors who avoid destructive communication in the classroom (Myers, 2001). In the

organizational context, Infante and Gorden (1987) found that superiors who were perceived as

high in verbal aggressiveness and low in argumentativeness were viewed as inattentive and

unfriendly. They concluded that the destructive nature of verbal aggression, when displayed by a

supervisor, can create an organizational climate that leads to low employee satisfaction and

greater damage to the subordinate’s self-concept. In essence, research has yet to identify how

verbal aggression might be related to positive relationship outcomes.

Athletes, in many ways, are like students or subordinates—they are placed in subordinate

roles and expected to defer to authority. Like students and subordinates, athletes tend to react

negatively toward verbal aggression from their coaches (Ruggiero & Lattin, 2008). Research

suggests that athletes are more satisfied when coaches offer positive (Dwyer & Fischer, 1990)

and rewarding feedback and social support (Weiss & Friedrichs, 1986). Kassing and Infante

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(1999) found that athletes were less satisfied and displayed poorer sportsmanship behaviors

when their coaches were verbally and physically aggressive. Martin, Rocca, Cayanus, and Weber

(2009) found that coaches’ use of positive Behavior Alteration Techniques (BATs) was

positively associated with athletes’ affect and motivation, while negative BATs led athletes to

report decreases in their affect and motivation.

Motivated athletes tend to apply themselves and persist at tasks that further their

performance, whereas unmotivated athletes might make poor choices and often fail to persist in

competition. Although some of the differences in athletes’ motivation can be attributed to

differences in the individual athlete, distinctions must also be attributed to their reactions to

circumstances and processes at work in the sport environment. Factors within the sport such as

the coach or teammates can affect athletes’ motivation. Given that coaches may use verbal

aggression in an attempt to alter athletes’ behaviors and overall performance in a competitive

sport, a coach’s use of verbal aggression might have a negative effect on athlete motivation.

Alternatively, coaches who exhibit an affirming style through attentive and friendly

communication behaviors can lead athletes to experience greater motivation in competitive sport.

Therefore, the following hypothesis is proposed:

H1: Athletes will report lower levels of motivation when exposed to verbally

aggressive coaches versus coaches who use an affirming style.

Credibility refers to a receiver’s perception of the degree to which a source is perceived

as believable (McCroskey, 1992). McCroskey and Teven (1999) argue that credibility is the

degree to which receivers perceive the source’s level of competence, trustworthiness, and caring.

Competence refers to the extent to which a source is perceived to know what he or she is talking

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about, whereas trustworthiness is the degree to which the source is perceived as honest. Caring

refers to the extent to which the source is perceived to have the receivers’ best interests in mind.

Verbal aggression on the part of a speaker often leads receivers to report negative

perceptions of the speaker’s credibility. In fact, research suggests an inverse association between

teacher verbal aggressiveness and students’ perceived understanding and teacher credibility

(Edwards & Myers, 2007; Schrodt, 2003). Myers (2001) reported that students tend to view

verbally aggressive teachers as low in credibility, while Kassing and Infante (1999) found a

similar relationship between coaches’ verbal and physical aggression and male athletes’

perceptions of coach character, competence, and friendliness. Therefore, it stands to reason that

athletes might perceive verbally aggressive coaches as low in credibility. On the other hand,

coaches who use an affirming style might be perceived as more credible in the eyes of athletes.

Thus, the following hypothesis is posited:

H2: Athletes will report lower levels of perceived credibility when exposed to verbally

aggressive coaches versus coaches who use an affirming style.

Method

Participants

The participants were 130 undergraduate student-athletes (50 first-year students, 32

sophomores, 25 juniors, 21 seniors, 2 no reports) at a large southeastern university. The sample

consisted of 71 males and 57 females, with an average age of 19.81 years (ranging from 18 to 26

years, SD = 1.38). The racial/ethnic distribution was 70% Caucasians, 29% African Americans,

and 1% Hispanics. The majority of the participants reported playing multiple sports throughout

their lives (M = 3.20, SD = 1.69)—including football, basketball, baseball, softball, soccer, and

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swimming—an average of 12.26 years (SD = 4.07).

Procedures

All procedures were approved through the university’s Institutional Review Board.

Coach verbal aggression was manipulated in narratives across two experimental groups (verbally

aggressive coach, affirming style coach) on the research questionnaire (see Appendix). Profanity,

screaming, and condescending language was included in the verbally aggressive narrative and

calm, supportive, and concerned language was featured in the affirming style narrative. To

initially assess the effectiveness of the verbal aggression and affirming style manipulation

(Edwards & Myers, 2007), a panel of athletes was asked to examine the narratives and suggest

changes. Slight adjustments were made based on their comments. Equal numbers of surveys

from each experimental condition were intermixed in a stack (survey 1, survey 2, survey 1,

survey 2, etc.) to randomly assign participants to each group. Participants were recruited from

general education courses and the university’s athletics office. After reading an informed consent

form, participants were given a survey and instructed that the coach’s communication (narrative)

occurred after an important play in competition. After reading the narrative, participants were

asked to develop an impression of the coach and keep the coach in mind as they completed the

survey. Writing the instructions and narratives in this way provided participants the opportunity

to focus solely on the coach’s communication behavior as they completed the various measures

(Mazer & Hunt, 2008).

Measurement

Motivation. Athlete motivation was operationalized using Christophel’s (1990) measure

of motivation. This measure is composed of 16 bipolar items with seven response options, with

higher numbers indicating greater motivation. Sample items include: motivated/unmotivated,

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interested/uninterested, involved/uninvolved, not stimulated/stimulated, inspired/uninspired. The

measure produced an alpha reliability of .89 (M = 42.39, SD = 15.13).

Credibility. Coach credibility was assessed using Teven and McCroskey’s (1997)

measure of credibility. The instrument is composed of 18, seven-point semantic-differential

scales, six each for the competence, trustworthiness, and caring dimensions. The measures had

alpha reliabilities of .92 for competence (M = 22.73, SD = 9.38), .89 for trustworthiness (M =

24.25, SD = 9.13), and .91 for caring (M = 22.81, SD = 10.32).

Manipulation check. Participants were asked to evaluate the coach’s communication as

displayed in the survey narrative and then respond to four items designed to assess the

effectiveness of the independent variable manipulation. Participants responded using seven-point

semantic differential scales: negative/positive, friendly/not friendly, not aggressive/aggressive,

supportive/unsupportive. The manipulation check items were reliable (! = .89; M = 14.74, SD =

6.89).

Results

An independent samples t-test performed on the manipulation check revealed statistically

significant differences between conditions indicating that the manipulation of verbal aggression

and affirming style was successful, t (127) = -12.24, p < .001, d = 2.14. Participants in the verbal

aggression group evaluated the coach’s communication more negatively (M = 10.25, SD = 4.23)

than participants in the affirming style group (M = 20.42, SD = 5.21). See Table 1 for cell means

and standard deviations.

H1 predicted that athletes who were presented with a verbally aggressive coach in a

scenario would report lower levels of motivation than athletes who were presented with a coach

who used an affirming style. An independent samples t-test revealed a statistically significant

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difference between verbally aggressive and affirming style coaches for athlete motivation, t

(123) = -4.72, p < .001, d = .85. Athletes exposed to a verbally aggressive coach (M = 37.15, SD

= 13.47) reported significantly lower motivation than athletes exposed to a coach who used an

affirming style (M = 49.05, SD = 14.61). Therefore, H1 was supported. See Table 2 for cell

means and standard deviations.

H2 posited that athletes who were presented with a verbally aggressive coach in a

scenario would perceive the coach as less credible than athletes who were presented with a coach

who used an affirming style. Independent samples t-tests revealed statistically significant

differences between groups on competence, t (126) = -6.44, p < .001, d = 1.16, trustworthiness, t

(125) = -8.12, p < .001, d = 1.46, and caring, t (126) = -9.34, p < .001, d = 1.66. Athletes

perceived a verbally aggressive coach as significantly less competent (M = 18.56, SD = 8.77),

trustworthy (M = 19.50, SD = 7.50), and caring (M = 17.01, SD = 7.91) than a coach who used an

affirming style (competence: M = 27.93, SD = 7.33; trustworthiness: M = 30.27, SD = 7.30;

caring: M = 30.27, SD = 8.04). Therefore, H2 was supported. See Table 2 for cell means and

standard deviations.

Discussion

The primary purpose of this study was to explore the effects of coach verbal aggression

on athletes’ motivation and their perceptions of coach credibility. The findings suggested that

coaches, who were represented as highly verbally aggressive when interacting with a student

athlete, led athletes to experience significantly less motivation and led them to perceive the

coach as significantly less credible. The results of this study align with previous research that

examined the role of communication in the coach-athlete relationship (Kassing & Infante, 1999;

Turman, 2006, 2008). In particular, these findings extend prior research by providing evidence of

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important causal connections between coach communication behaviors—specifically verbal

aggression and affirming style—and athlete outcomes.

Coaches may intend for their aggressive communication to correct athletes’ poor

performance during competition and improve their overall effectiveness in the game. However,

these communication choices can come at the expense of athletes’ motivation and lead athletes to

perceive the coach as less competent, trustworthy, and caring. When coaches yell at their players

when they make mistakes, use condescending and profane language, and use other hurtful

communication behavior, athletes report that they are less motivated to participate and perceive

the verbally aggressive coach as low in credibility. On the other hand, coaches who use an

affirming style with calm and supportive language can lead athletes to experience greater

motivation and perceive the coach as more competent, trustworthy, and caring. These findings

support prior research suggesting that constructive influence strategies are more effective in

increasing player motivation (Horn, 2002; Smith, Fry, Ethington, & Li, 2005). Verbal aggression

may offer short-term benefits, but such communication has meaningful negative effects on

athletes. Although the potential for short- and long-term effects was not explicitly addressed in

the present study, future research can seek to examine this possibility.

Smoll, Smith, Barnett, and Everett (1993) argued that coaches can be trained to be

effective communicators. Coaching and athletic leadership programs might capitalize on

research examining the interpersonal characteristics of the coach-athlete relationship and

incorporate necessary training efforts in their programs. Instruction in this area can familiarize

coaches with constructive and destructive communication behaviors and teach how such

messages can lead to positive and negative effects on athletes. While some may justify the use of

verbally aggressive messages for instrumental purposes (i.e., to accomplish a goal) (Martin,

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Anderson, & Horvath, 1996), the present study offers no evidence that points toward positive

effects of verbal aggression on athlete outcomes. In fact, coaches who use less verbal aggression

and use other constructive communication techniques such as providing positive feedback and

offering social support can foster an environment where athletes learn from their coach as a

credible leader (Turman, 2001).

Despite the contributions of this study, the results should be interpreted within the

limitations imposed by the research design. Indeed, interactions between coaches and athletes are

highly contextualized. Variables such as the urgency of the moment, the pace of the game, and

the current score can influence the effectiveness and appropriateness of a coach’s communication

with a player. In this investigation, participants were asked to develop a perception of a coach

from a narrative on the research questionnaire. Even though this experimental method is

commonly used in instructional communication research (Mazer & Hunt, 2008; Sprinkle, Hunt,

Simonds, & Comadena, 2006; Teven & Hanson, 2004), it would be interesting to explore

athletes’ reactions to actual coaches who use verbal aggression.

While the present study considered only the players’ reactions to the coach’s

communication, future research might consider coaches’ perceptions to more fully capture the

effects of their verbal aggression on athlete motivation. Without a doubt, the relationship

between coach verbal aggression, athlete motivation, and coach credibility may vary based upon

the sport, sport level (youth sports versus collegiate competition), and program success. More

importantly, potential mediating variables may influence how athletes perceive the

communication behavior of their coach. That is, winning teams may be less affected by a

verbally aggressive coach when such behaviors might influence a team’s ability to win. Although

the present study examined a diverse selection of sports and athletes, future research might

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examine potential differences across a variety of sports and various levels of competition and

success to more fully understand the effects of coach verbal aggression on athlete outcomes. The

findings also could be further validated through additional data collection techniques, including

observations of coach-athlete interactions (Turman, 2005, 2007).

Scholars agree that coaches can and often do serve rather influential roles in the lives of

their athletes (Black & Weiss, 1992; Millard, 1992; Parrott & Duggan, 1999; Turman, 2003a,

2003b). This consensus confirms the need for additional research that draws important

connections between effective coach communication behaviors and athlete motivation, success,

and satisfaction. This research can permit scholars, coaches, and athletes to more fully

understand how positive coach-athlete relationships can lead to improvements not only in the

quality of athletes’ performance during sport participation, but also in the quality of many other

life experiences.

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Case Questions

1. Why might coaches use verbal aggression in their communication with athletes?

2. What do you think are the most vital components of coach credibility? Competence,

trustworthiness, or caring?

3. How do the findings of this study contribute to the literature on verbal aggression and

affirming style?

4. How might scholars best explore the effects of coach communication behavior on athlete

outcomes?

5. How might a specific credibility component (e.g., caring) compensate for another

component (e.g., competence)? In other words, can a coach be perceived as high in caring

and low competence and still be successful?

6. What specific verbally aggressive communication behaviors might coaches utilize to

motivate athletes? What behaviors might they avoid?

7. What specific communication behaviors might characterize a coach’s affirming style?

8. What specific characteristics of the sports context might make verbal aggression

acceptable?

9. How might a team’s success factor into athletes’ perceptions of a coach’s communication

behavior?

10. Do you believe that coaches can be trained to be more effective communicators? Why or

why not?

11. If you were to develop a “best practices” for coaches’ communication, what

communication behaviors would be included?

!

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Appendix

Narratives in Experimental Conditions

Verbally Aggressive Coach

“Why the fuck would you do that? Did you think that was a good idea? This is the type of

shit I am talking about! We are down to the wire and you let the entire team down. There

is no time for you to be selfish and take matters into your own hands. You’re fucking

incompetent and don’t deserve to be here. Sit your ass down! I don’t even want to look at

you!”

Affirming Style Coach

“Are you feeling okay? Help me understand why you did that. I feel like this happens a

lot. Is there something that I can do to make it easier for you? Things like this seem to

happen quite often when we are down to the wire. Sometimes it’s easier to not take a

situation like this into your own hands and ask for help instead. If there is something

you’re not understanding lets talk about it later. Have a seat and cool down.”