Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2018 April, 244(4)
The Characteristics of Coaches that Verbally or Physically Abuse Young Athletes
YUTAKA YABE,1 YOSHIHIRO HAGIWARA,1,2 TAKUYA SEKIGUCHI,1 HARUKI MOMMA,3 MASAHIRO TSUCHIYA,4 KAORU KUROKI,2,5 KENJI KANAZAWA,1 MASASHI KOIDE,1 NOBUYUKI ITAYA,1 SHINICHIRO YOSHIDA,1 YASUHITO SOGI,1 TOSHIHISA YANO,1 EIJI ITOI1 and RYOICHI NAGATOMI2,3
1Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
2Department of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
3Division of Biomedical Engineering for Health and Welfare, Tohoku University Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
4Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Science, Tohoku Fukushi University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
5Department of Rehabilitation, Tohoku Fukushi University, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
Verbal or physical abuse from coaches has a negative impact on young athletes. To prevent abuse against young athletes, it is important to know the characteristics of abusive coaches. This study aimed to elucidate the characteristics of coaches who commit verbal or physical abuse in youth sports teams. A cross-sectional study was conducted with coaches of youth sport teams in Miyagi prefecture, Japan (n = 1,283), using a self-reported questionnaire (response rate was 24.0%). Multivariate logistic regression models were used for analyses. The prevalence of verbal and physical abuse towards young athletes was 64.7% (n = 830) and 6.2% (n = 79), respectively. Verbal abuse was significantly associated with lower educational attainment (odds ratio (OR): 1.32, 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.03-1.69), experiences of verbal abuse by own coaches (OR: 1.85, 95% CI: 1.37-2.50), acceptability for verbal or physical abuse (OR: 2.53, 95% CI: 1.82-3.52), and dissatisfaction with athletes' attitude (OR: 1.62, 95% CI: 1.26-2.07). Physical abuse was significantly associated with experiences of physical abuse by respondents' coaches (OR: 2.71, 95% CI: 1.50-4.92), acceptability for verbal or physical abuse (OR: 3.89, 95% CI: 2.39-6.33), and longer experience of coaching in years (OR: 2.45, 95% CI: 1.20-4.98). The results of this study show that coaches who commit verbal or physical abuse had typically experienced abuse from their former coaches, and adopted a similar style. Breaking the negative cycle of verbal and physical abuse is necessary to eliminate the abuse of young athletes.
keywords —— coach; physical abuse; sport; verbal abuse; young athlete
© 2018 Tohoku University Medical Press
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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2018, 244, 297-304
Correspondence: Yoshihiro Hagiwara, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Tohoku University School of Medicine, 1-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8574, Japan.
e-mail: hagi@med.tohoku.ac.jp