“We do it for the team” – Student-athletes’ initiation practices and their impact on group cohesion.

Lafferty, M.E.; Wakefield, C.; Brown, H.

Abstract

Hazing or inappropriate initiation activities are a well-documented occurrence within university sport team societies. This study examined the occurrence of initiation activities in relation to team cohesion. One hundred and fifty-four participants completed the Group Environment Questionnaire and the Team Cohesion Questionnaire in relation to initiation activities at their institution. Results revealed that athletes were more aware of appropriate than inappropriate initiation activities, with males being aware of a higher occurrence of inappropriate activities than females. Results were also analysed by sport type, revealing that interactive team sport players recorded higher hazing scores than co-acting players. With regard to cohesion, no significant relationship was found between hazing and cohesion suggesting the notion that initiations enhance cohesion in sport is untrue.

Citation

Lafferty, M., Wakefield, C., & Brown, H. (2016). “We do it for the team” – Student-athletes’ initiation practices and their impact on group cohesion. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 15(4), 438-446. https://doi.org/10.1080/1612197X.2015.1121507

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 5, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Jan 5, 2016
• Publication Date: Jan 5, 2016
• Deposit Date: Mar 16, 2016
• Journal: International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology
• Print ISSN: 1612-197X
• Electronic ISSN: 1557-251X
• Publisher: Fitness Information Technology
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 15
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 438-446
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1612197X.2015.1121507
• Keywords: Student-athletes; initiations; cohesion; interacting; co-acting
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/9651
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1612197X.2015.1121507