FREQUENCY OF COMPETITION AND AGGRESSION IN PROFESSIONAL ICE HOCKEY

The relationship between frequency of competition and aggression was e xamined in professional ice hockey. Data on the 9,318 aggressive incid ents which occurred in 840 NHL games were collected from official game reports. Aggression in 345 intradivisional games, where teams played each other seven or eight times, was compared to that in 495 interdivi sional games, where teams competed with each other only three times. T he 13 measures of aggression were the subject-defined aggressive penal ties (Widmeyer & Birch, 1978). Results of the MANOVA supported the hyp othesis that when teams competed move frequently (intradivisional) the re was move aggression (p<0.001) than when they competed less frequent ly (interdivisional). Univariate analyses revealed significant differe nces for fighting, roughing, cross checking, high sticking, elbowing, slashing, and charging (all p s<0.01). In addition, it was shown withi n both intradivisional and interdivisional competition that aggression increased as the number of meetings between the teams increased. Resu lts were seen as supporting Sherif et al.'s (1961) intergroup conflict theory. Implications of the effects that unbalanced schedules have on aggression were discussed.