Effect of Values, Achievement Goals and Perceived Ability on Moral Attitudes in Sport, 1998

<p>Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.</p>It is frequently claimed that sports participation per se has a beneficial effect on social and moral development. However, there is reason to believe that the display of desirable moral attitudes may be influenced by a combination of personal attributes that have not yet been investigated. These include the values which young people hold in sport, the nature of the achievement goals that they set for themselves, and their perceptions of their own ability. Recent research has indicated that young athletes may identify three types of important sets of values that guide their sports participation : socio-moral, competence and status. Furthermore, an extensive body of research has established that children adopt self-referenced or comparative criteria to evaluate their success and assess their physical ability.<br> This project investigated the combined influence of those variables on moral attitudes in a sporting context. It was accomplished by a survey of young athletes which assessed the impact of, first, their value systems, second, the nature of their achievement goals and, third, their perceptions of their physical ability, on their attitudes towards moral issues in sport. Specifically, it examined the propositions that (a) achievement goals act as mediators on the influence of values on positive and negative attitudes towards issues in fair play in adolescent athletes, and (b) that perceptions of ability act as a moderating variable in that process. The research built directly upon two previous studies carried out at the University of Brighton (these studies are not currently held at the Data Archive). The first, funded by the Sports Council, explored young athletes' value systems and moral attitudes. The second focused on interactive effect of achievement goals and perceived ability on sport persistence. The current project brought together these two related but hitherto independent research fields and contributed to the debate about the role of sport in promoting moral values and attitudes.<B>Main Topics</B>:<br> Data collection was achieved by means of a package of questionnaires to measure : demographic information for use as independent factors; perceived ability; sporting values; attitudes towards cheating and sportsmanship; and perceptions of success.<br> The dataset comprises scores on self-report inventories from 892 sports participants aged 12 to 15 years who provided complete data for age, gender and level of sports participation, together with a participant code number (SUBJECT) within each club or school sampled (CLUBSCHO).<br> Demographic and contextual variables (MAINSPOR to LEVEL) include data on age, gender, sport, competitive level experience, whether participation is predominantly in school or club, and the order in which questionnaires were presented.<br> Psychological variables (SELFIMP to STATUS) are item scores on four instruments plus composite variables that total the items within each sub-scale. Subsequent analyses determined which of these items provided the best fit.<br> (a) 'Perceived ability' was measured by the competence scale of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) (McAuley, Duncan and Tammen, 1989 - see reference below), plus a self-referenced and comparative ability item from the research team. The items (SELFI MP to SPQ5) were designed for a single scale (PERABIL).<br> (b) 'Sports values' were assessed by a modification and extension of the Sport Values Questionnaire (SVQ) (Lee and Balchin, 1996 - see reference below). The items (V1 to V26) were designed to include three sub-scales (MORAL, COMPETENCE, STATUS).<br> (c) Attitudes towards sport were assessed by two scales from the Multidimensional Sportsmanship Orientation Scale (MSOS) (Vallerand et al, 1997 - see reference below) and a revision of two scales from the Sport Attitude Questionnaire (SAQ) (Lee and Balchin, 1996 - see reference below). The items (SAQ1 to SAQ23) were designed to form four sub-scales (COMMITment, CONVENTions, CHEATing, GAMESmanship).<br> (d) Goal Orientations were assessed by a modification of the adolescent version of the Perceptions of Success Questionnaire (POSQ) (Roberts, Balague and Treasure, 1998 - see reference below). The items (POSQ1 to POSQ14) form two sub-scales (TASK, EGO).<br> <br> Measurement scales and instruments<br> The instruments referred to above were constructed by refinement and adaptation of the following existing instruments :<br> 'Intrinsic Motivation Inventory' - McAuley, E., Duncan, E.T. and Tammen, V.V. (1989) 'Psychometric properties of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory in a competitive setting' <i>Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport</i>, 60, pp.45-58.<br> 'Sport Value Questionnaire' and 'Sporting Attitudes Questionnaire' - Lee, M.J. (1996) <i>Young people, sport and ethics : an examination of fairplay in youth sport</i>, technical report to the Sports Council Research Unit, London.<br> 'Multidimensional Sportsmanship Orientation Scale' - Vallerand, R.J. et al (1997) <i>Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology</i>, 19, pp.197-206.<br> 'Perceptions of Success in Sport Questionnaire' - Roberts, G.C., Treasure, D.C. and Balague, G. (1998) 'Achievement goals in sport : the development and validation of the Perceptions of Success Questionnaire' <i>Journal of Sports Sciences</i>, 16, pp.337-347