Sports Aggression

An article that I found by Linda Keeler in the Journal of Sport Behavior talks about the differences in men's sports and women’s sports and weather or not emotions play a role in the type of sport being played. Society generally views sports like volleyball and gymnastics as sports for women, and sports like football and hockey for men. The men sports are typically known as being more aggressive and more competitive. That's just how society is; it is preached from a young age that boys are rowdy and aggressive while girls are nice and sweet. But is this really how it is? Keeler presents data from an experiment that shows no significant differences between men's and women's aggression levels on the field. However, men showed higher amounts of aggression than women in normal everyday circumstances. I feel that women showing the same amount of aggression on the field, as men may just show their dedication and passion for the particular sport that they are participating in. This links to the shorter post that I did about women that participate in the Olympic Games. These women don't have to be girly girls to accomplish something, but they also shouldn’t be viewed any differently than anyone else. Keeler states “It is evident from the media and college campuses that women's contact and collision sport participation is increasing. The aggression and love and dedication that women show toward their sport will help them stay successful, because you cannot succeed at something that you don’t enjoy.

Another study that was done shows a positive correlation between aggressiveness and sports. This was found in the PubMed database. This experiment hypothesized that sports serve as a means a way to control aggressiveness of women and help with the individual psychosocial development of men. “The decision to practice sports is up to the individual but seems to be connected with the needs to conform to cultural stereotypes, which portray the man as aggressive and the women as gentle and submissive (Lenzi et al., 1997).”

These two studies show how men and women’s emotions may play a role in the activities that they choose to participate in such as certain sports that they choose to play. These sports may not be influenced based on emotions but may help them cope with their emotions while they play.

~ Katlyn Vickery

                                                                 Works Cited
Keeler L (2007). The differences in sport aggression, life aggression, and life assertion among adult male and female collision, contact, and non-contact sport athletes. Journal of Sport Behavior. 30: 57-76. 

Lenzi A, Bianco I, Milazzo V, Placidi G, Castrogiovanni P, and Becherini D (1997). Comparison of aggresive behavior between men and women in sport. Percept Mot Skills. PubMed database. 84: 139-145