Moral functioning in sport: An achievement goal perspective

This study examined the role of achievement goals on indices of moral funct ioning (i.e., moral judgment, intention and behavior), unsportsmanlike atti tudes, and judgments about the legitimacy of intentionally injurious acts i n college basketball players. Male (n = 56) and female (n = 143) athletes c ompleted questionnaires assessing the aforementioned variables. Multivariat e analysis of variance revealed significant differences according to gender on the variables of interest, Specifically, male athletes reported higher ego orientation, lower task orientation, lower levels of moral functioning, and greater approval of unsportsmanlike behaviors, and they were more like ly than females to judge injurious acts as legitimate. For the female sampl e, canonical correlation analysis indicated the presence of a significant b ut weak relationship between goal orientations and the set of moral variabl es. Higher ego orientation was related to lower levels of the judgment and intention indices of moral functioning and greater acceptance of intentiona lly injurious acts. Although this relationship was significant, the strengt h of the association between the two sets of variables accounted for only 9 % of the variance in the set of moral variables.