Examining Background Anger and Youth Sport Spectator Behaviors

Background and Purpose: Inappropriate spectator behaviors, such as altercations between spectators, coaching from the sidelines, and yelling at referees, have been recognized as a social problem impacting both family dynamics, and the collective youth sport environment. The United States National Sports Strategy (2019) emphasized the importance of parents modeling appropriate spectator behaviors to create and maintain positive youth sports experiences. One approach to better understand spectating behavior is from the theoretical framework of background anger. This framework suggests that anger exhibiting behaviors, which can be verbal, nonverbal, or physical in nature and do not directly involve the observer, can have negative psychosocial impacts on the observer (Cummings, 1987; Omli & Lavoi, 2009). Prolonged exposure to inappropriate spectator behaviors thus can be stressful to youth athletes. While popular and social media are littered with stories of parents acting inappropriately in this context, adequate empirical data concerning the frequency of these events in lacking (Block & Lesneskie, 2018; Omli & Lavoi, 2009). Thus, the purpose was this study was to explore the frequency and nature of parent spectator behaviors.

Methods: Conducted in partnership with a state soccer association in the midwestern United States, parents of youth participants (n = 1157) from affiliated clubs completed an electronic survey to document frequency of behaviors observed on the sidelines at their child’s soccer games in the past year. Using an adapted instrument from Omli & Lavoi (2009) and mirroring that of Reynolds (2020, 2021), the authors were able to gather information on the frequency which parents observed inappropriate spectator behaviors. Items were rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1-never to 5-all of the time).

Results: Participants scored lower on observations of “Got into it with someone” (1.74; sd = 0.81), “Yelled at child’s teammates” (1.98; sd = 0.94), and “Cussing loud enough for others to hear” (2.2; sd =0.99). Participants scored higher on observations of “Yelling at the referee” (3.26; sd =1.09) and “Coaching from sidelines” (3.89; sd = 0.99)

Conclusions and Implications: While sport can lead to positive outcomes for youth participants, Coakley (2011) cautions that youth sport experiences are contingent upon factors such as guardian and spectator behaviors. Specifically, from the lens of background anger, observation of inappropriate spectator behaviors, like those found to be prominent in this study, could lead to negative biopsychosocial outcomes for youth sport participants. Social work practitioners who work with youth athletes or in youth sport organizations should consider targeted interventions to improve spectator behavior at the individual and organizational level. For example, individual training can be administered to stakeholders to address yelling and sideline coaching and appropriate spectator behavior. At the organizational level, social workers can draft and advocate for both preventative policies (i.e., no alcohol sales) and remediable (i.e., behavioral expectations, parent meetings) policies. Furthermore, as our findings suggest negative spectator behavior may be a common phenomenon, social workers and other mental health professionals who are working clinically with youth involved in sport can benefit from including assessment of youth sport experiences into their biopsychosocial assessments.