Part 3 GLOBAL ISSUES: HARASSMENT AND ABUSE RESEARCH

Not only do athletes experiences the various types of emotional abuse
differently, but the same emotionally abusive behaviours are experienced
differently at various stages of an athlete’s career. Interestingly, athletes’
responses to emotional abuse seem to be entwined with self-perceptions of
athletic performances and acquiescence to the culture of sport as reflected in
the phases of normalization and rebellion. During the bulk of the athletes’
careers, their experiences of emotional abuse are normalized or accepted as
part of the elite sport culture. At this stage, emotionally abusive coaching
practices are accepted as a required part of the training process, and affective
responses to emotional abuse are low. There is generally a point at which
performance shifts from being perceived positively to negatively. A
concomitant shift is also seen in the athletes’ affective responses to emotional
abuse, with negative affect increasing as perceptions of performance become
more negative. At this time, even though the athletes still view the emotionally
abusive behaviours as a normal part of the training process, these behaviours
have a significant negative effect on the athletes. Near the end of the athletes’
careers, it is found that many athletes start to question the normalization of
their coach’s deviant behaviours, to question the culture of elite sport in which
the emotionally abusive behaviours occur, and ultimately rebel against these
behaviours. In this phase of rebellion, athletes are significantly and negatively
affected by their experiences of emotional abuse. In addition to general
unhappiness during the latter stages of their careers, many participants also
recalled experiences of depression, eating disorders, and social withdrawal as
a result of their emotionally abusive experiences. A model of the process by
which athletes experience emotional abuse over time is illustrated in Figure 1.
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