A comparison of maladaptive behaviors of athletes and nonathletes

A comparison of maladaptive behavior tendencies of men and women who were a thletes and nonathletes was undertaken. Participating students (N = 200) we re divided into four groups: male athletes, male nonathletes, female athlet es, and female nonathletes. Maladaptive behavior tendencies were determined from responses on C. MacAndrew's (1965) Alcoholism Scale. The statistical analysis used was an independent groups 2 x 2 analysis of variance to deter mine significant main effects and interaction effects. The mean maladaptive behavior score (MBS) for athletes (M = 21.87) was significantly higher (p < .05) than the MBS for nonathletes (M = 20.24). The MBS for the men (M = 2 1.68) was significantly higher (p < .05) than the MBS for the women (M = 20 .43). No significant interaction (p > .05) between gender and athletic stat us was found. Male athletes are more likely than the other 3 groups to have maladaptive behavior tendencies. Research directed toward greater understa nding and the development of preventive and coping techniques for this popu lation is needed.