The agression on the perspective of young athletes, their families and coaches: a thematic analysis

Abstract

According to Social Modeling Theory, aggressive models influence other subjects to learn and replicate aggressive behaviors. Therefore, it is reasonable to observe and investigate this aspect in the most diverse environments, such as sports. The objective of this research is to understand the perception of aggression from the perspective of young athletes, their families and coaches. Starting from a socio-constructionist ontology and a socio-historicist epistemology, it is believed that social interactions and historical institutions have influenced the aggressiveness of young athletes; Therefore, teammates, family members and coaches would be agents that would shape the athlete's reality, with the coach being identified as the main influencing agent. It was carried out semi-structured interviews based on qualitative data from fourteen participants, six young athletes, six family members and two coaches. It was decided to carry out thematic analysis as a data analysis method. Four main themes were found from the thematic analysis: Events in the stands, Perspective of adults, Factors linked to aggression and Conceptions about aggressiveness. Given the analysis of the themes generated from the interviews, we could assume that the interviewees had prior notions regarding the difference between hostile and instrumental aggression, with the majority of interviewees expressing an aversion to hostility. In none interview did the participants point to teammates as influential people for aggressiveness and family members were the individuals highlighted in the interviews as the agents that most influence the hostile behaviors of young athletes.