Power, empathy, and moral conflict in sport.

Abstract

Empathy is a crucial element in prosocial behavior and moral decision making. If youth are not encouraged to develop empathic responses, they may not recognize situations involving moral conflict and may not offer protest in situations demanding moral action. This research study asks (a) whether ethically questionable behavior on the part of the coach is labeled as morally problematic, and if so, how negatively; (b) to whom might youth turn in an effort to discuss coach behavior they judge to be morally problematic; (c) what actual acts of resistance have youth engaged in and under what circumstances and with what results; (d) which sources of coach power do youth identify as most effective in preventing their resistance to abusive authority; and finally, (e) does age or sex influence the likelihood of youth resistance in sport? The results indicated that various sources of coach power act to inhibit moral resistance to coach-athlete conflicts in sport. Furthermore, males and adolescents were less likely ...