No, most hockey parents are not super aggressive

	Tweet

Although media images of the irate “hockey dad” might suggest otherwise, most hockey fathers—and mothers—seem to value their children’s learning experience over their win records, a new study suggests.

In surveys of 123 boys in a youth hockey league and their parents, researchers found that both players and parents put more stock in the skills the boys learned than in whether they outplayed their peers.

In addition, parents’ goals were generally similar to those of their children, said lead study author David A. Bergin, an associate professor of educational psychology at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

The findings, he told Reuters Health, counter the stereotype of the “crazed” hockey father picking fights in the stands and pushing his son to be similarly aggressive, an image fueled by media coverage of certain incidents in recent years—most famously, the case of the Massachusetts hockey father convicted in the beating death of another player’s father.

But, as reported in the Journal of Genetic Psychology, the new study found that parents and sons alike were more “task-oriented” than “ego-oriented.”

Task-oriented people focus on working hard and building skills, whereas the ego-oriented person is concerned about looking better than others—and may be open to cheating in order to win.

Both types of athletes may want to win, according to Bergin, but winning is not all-consuming for the task-oriented person.

The questionnaires he and his colleague Dr. Steven F. Habusta used gauged parents’ and players’ goal orientations by asking them the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with various statements-such as, in the case of parents, “I feel my son is most successful in hockey when he is the only one who can do the play or skill.”

The surveys, given separately to parents and their 10- to 13-year-old sons, found that task-orientation was more common than ego-orientation among players and parents alike, even when it came to so-called travel teams—which, Bergin explained, are composed of higher-skilled, and potentially more competitive, players.

Given the stereotype of hockey parents, Bergin said the findings that task-orientation beat out ego-orientation and that parents and sons generally agreed in their goals can be viewed as “somewhat reassuring.”

SOURCE: Journal of Genetic Psychology, December 2004.

RELATED STORIES:
When words get hot, mental multitaskers collect cool   Mental Health workers help city kids   Vaccine critics attack mercury report   Response to ADHD drugs may depend on gene   Human lie detectors almost never miss, study finds   Johnson & Johnson unit minimized risks of drug - report   Drinkers More Physically Active Than Abstainers   Major depression more than doubles risk of dementia among adults with diabetes   Soaps Paint Far Too Rosy a Picture of Coma   Children’s calorie expenditure, heart rate increase during active video games   Many people need help with unhealthy relationships   Americans suspicious of terror plans, survey shows

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]