Psychological violence among young athletes

: A systematic review

Abstract

Psychological violence (PV) among young athletes is reported to be the most prevalent type of interpersonal violence in sport (Hartill et al., 2021). Yet, to date, there is still a lack of knowledge on how PV among young athletes manifest itself. The purpose of this systematic review is to explore how researchers to date have defined and investigated psychological violence (PV) among young athletes. Twenty-four publications published between 2008 and 2022 were identified and examined in-depth. The main study participants of the publications were athletes (n = 21) and coaches (n = 3). The included studies were selected by using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (Moher et al., 2009). To guarantee the quality of the studies scrutinised in this systematic review, the Mixed Method Appraisal Tool was applied (Hong et al., 2018). The results showed that PV among young athletes is investigated under the broader definition of bullying (n = 13) or interpersonal violence (IV) (n = 11). The primary finding of this systematic review was the lack of an exhaustive concept describing PV among young athletes. Hereby, not all psychological violent behaviour among young athletes (e.g. doping) were covered and researched. A second finding was that studies which analysed bullying questioned respondents on their role(s) as perpetrator, victim, or bystander, whereas studies researching IV among young athletes merely questioned respondents from their perspective as a victim. The former illustrates the dynamic component of PV among youth athletes and to support young athletes in navigating relationships. In addition, the organisational influence on PV among young athletes was highlighted. Therefore, it can be concluded that a multidisciplinary intervention is needed to prevent PV among youth athletes.

Date of Award	2022
Original language	English