Sport practice influence pupils’ aggressive behaviours perceived by teachers at school

Aim It has been observed that sport effect on aggression depends on specific characteristics of each discipline, such as being an individual or a team sport, the level of physical contact required and the frequency of competitions (Bredemeier & Shields, 2006). Most studies investigated the effects of these variables on aggression in the sportive context only, while few examined effects in other contexts of everyday life. The aim of this study was to check differences on pupils' aggression levels perceived by school teachers depending on the characteristics of the sport played. Method A sample of 111 young adolescents (boys=55; girls=56; mean age=10.4±0.6 years) from 4 primary schools filled in a questionnaire on characteristics of their extra-curricular sport (individual/team; no-contact/contact/collision; competition frequency never/occasionally/weekly). Their teachers (5 females; mean age=48.8±9.9 years) filled in the 6-item Proactive and Reactive Aggression Questionnaire (Corrigan, 2003) for each pupil. Results Independent sample t-test shown that teachers perceive pupils playing team sports as significantly more aggressive than those playing individual sports, both for pro-active (t=-2.02; t= p<.05) and reactive aggression (t=-2.13; p<.05). One-way ANOVA showed that pupils playing no contact sports are perceived as significantly less aggressive than those playing contact and collision sports as for reactive (F=3.71; p<.01), but not as for proactive, aggression. Finally, teachers reported that pupils weekly involved in competitions are have higher levels of reactive (F=5.22; p<.05) and pro-active (F=4.60; p<.05) types of aggression than those who occasionally or never participate in competitions. Conclusion Results suggest that teachers perceived different levels of pupils aggression depending on characteristics of the sport. More research with larger samples is required to confirm results. References Bredemeier, B. L., Shields, D. L. (2006). Sport and character development. President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. Research Digest, 7(1). Corrigan, A. (2003). Teacher’s Report Form (Fast Track Project Technical Report). Retrieved on: http://www.fasttrackproject.org