the moral reasoning of student athletes and athletic training students
the moral reasoning of student athletes and athletic training students the moral reasoning of student athletes and athletic training students
CHAPTER FIVE Discussion From the ideal perspective of performance, sport is amazingly beautiful. In its purest form athletes are driven to compete for the satisfaction of competition and the exhilarating sensation of adrenaline and sweat running through their bodies often drawing awe from spectators with extraordinary physical feats. “Citius, Altius, Fortius.” The historic Olympic motto describes the purpose of sport, victory goes to the best. This is the ideal, however, not a reality. Today, sport is about winning. At the college level it is too often about institutional prestige and tuition dollars and at the elite levels it is about fame, glory and significant increases in financial status. Today, people seem willing to try anything to win. The practice of doping is increasing in all levels of sport and efforts to reverse the trend seem to be falling far short. According to this study, student athletes tend to reason from an ego-centered and relativistic approach citing the rules or legality of the issue when presented with a scenario specific to doping in sport. In this study, athletic training students reasoned similarly to their student athlete peers suggesting that they may not be able to assist curious student athletes in making decisions about doping from a consistent set of moral principles. These results are similar to the preliminary research findings of Beller, Stoll, Refvem, Williams, & Taylor-Hanson (in review) and Beller, Stoll, Williams, & Taylor-Hanson (in review) in that athletic trainers and athletic training students reason similarly to athletes from a very ego-centered approach. “Moral reasoning plays a critical role in the production of moral behavior. In fact, even if other factors influence moral choices to a similar (or even greater) degree, moral reasoning is critical because it produces the moral meaning that an intended action has for an individual” (Bredemeier & Shields, 1994, p. 175). If the results of this study are supported by future studies 68
and find that low levels of moral reasoning and the prevalence of making decisions from a rule based perspective underlie the issues of doping seen in sport then the first step in reversing the trend has been taken. Furthermore, according to Lickona (1991), in order for consistent moral action to occur, there must first be a moral awareness and moral reasoning, coupled with moral feeling in terms of empathy, valuing the good and positive self esteem. Hahm-Beller Values Choice Inventory (HBVCI) For the HBVCI, scores can range between 12-60. It has been established that a score of 20-30 on the HBVCI represents a level of moral reasoning similar to that of a junior high school student (Beller, Stoll, & Hahm, 2006). Individuals in this range tend to reason from an egocentered and relativistic perspective. They make decisions based on immediate benefits or consequences. Individuals scoring between 30-40 on the HBVCI more often tend to take into account societal norms and laws that underlie what is the right thing to do and why. Scores that fall in the range of 40-50 on the HBVCI reflect a reasoning process whereby the individual consistently uses a set of principles to determine whether an action or decision is inherently right or wrong apart from consequences to the person or persons involved. In terms of general moral reasoning the results from this study were consistent with previous research concerning gender (Beller, 1990; Beller & Stoll, 1995; Beller, Stoll, Burwell, & Cole, 1996; Beller, Stoll, & Hansen, 2004). In this study females scored seven points higher on the HBVCI than males. While the interaction of gender by status was not significant, it was approaching significance with a p value of 0.08. This difference appears to be due to the eight point difference between team sport males and team sport females. However, results from this study do not support Gilligan (1977) and Rest & Narvaez’s (1994) findings about gender. 69
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- Page 91 and 92: REFERENCES Alder, P., & Alder, P.A.
- Page 93 and 94: Beller, J.M., Stoll, S.K., Williams
- Page 95 and 96: Colby, A., Kohlberg, L., Gibbs, J.,
- Page 97 and 98: Honour, J.W. (2004). The fight for
- Page 99 and 100: Perry, P.J., Lund, B.C., Deninger,
- Page 101 and 102: Smith, R.A. (1988). Sports and Free
- Page 103 and 104: APPENDIX A HAHM - BELLER VALUES CHO
- Page 105 and 106: APPENDIX B EAMCI Instrument Please
- Page 107 and 108: 2. George, while hanging out at the
- Page 109 and 110: 4. Tony is the kind of athletic tra
- Page 111 and 112: APPENDIX C IRB approval 103
CHAPTER FIVE<br />
Discussion<br />
From <strong>the</strong> ideal perspective <strong>of</strong> performance, sport is amazingly beautiful. In its purest<br />
form <strong>athletes</strong> are driven to compete for <strong>the</strong> satisfaction <strong>of</strong> competition <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> exhilarating<br />
sensation <strong>of</strong> adrenaline <strong>and</strong> sweat running through <strong>the</strong>ir bodies <strong>of</strong>ten drawing awe from<br />
spectators with extraordinary physical feats. “Citius, Altius, Fortius.” The historic Olympic<br />
motto describes <strong>the</strong> purpose <strong>of</strong> sport, victory goes to <strong>the</strong> best. This is <strong>the</strong> ideal, however, not a<br />
reality. Today, sport is about winning. At <strong>the</strong> college level it is too <strong>of</strong>ten about institutional<br />
prestige <strong>and</strong> tuition dollars <strong>and</strong> at <strong>the</strong> elite levels it is about fame, glory <strong>and</strong> significant increases<br />
in financial status. Today, people seem willing to try anything to win. The practice <strong>of</strong> doping is<br />
increasing in all levels <strong>of</strong> sport <strong>and</strong> efforts to reverse <strong>the</strong> trend seem to be falling far short.<br />
According to this study, <strong>student</strong> <strong>athletes</strong> tend to reason from an ego-centered <strong>and</strong><br />
relativistic approach citing <strong>the</strong> rules or legality <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> issue when presented with a scenario<br />
specific to doping in sport. In this study, <strong>athletic</strong> <strong>training</strong> <strong>student</strong>s reasoned similarly to <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
<strong>student</strong> athlete peers suggesting that <strong>the</strong>y may not be able to assist curious <strong>student</strong> <strong>athletes</strong> in<br />
making decisions about doping from a consistent set <strong>of</strong> <strong>moral</strong> principles. These results are<br />
similar to <strong>the</strong> preliminary research findings <strong>of</strong> Beller, Stoll, Refvem, Williams, & Taylor-Hanson<br />
(in review) <strong>and</strong> Beller, Stoll, Williams, & Taylor-Hanson (in review) in that <strong>athletic</strong> trainers <strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>athletic</strong> <strong>training</strong> <strong>student</strong>s reason similarly to <strong>athletes</strong> from a very ego-centered approach.<br />
“Moral <strong>reasoning</strong> plays a critical role in <strong>the</strong> production <strong>of</strong> <strong>moral</strong> behavior. In fact, even<br />
if o<strong>the</strong>r factors influence <strong>moral</strong> choices to a similar (or even greater) degree, <strong>moral</strong> <strong>reasoning</strong> is<br />
critical because it produces <strong>the</strong> <strong>moral</strong> meaning that an intended action has for an individual”<br />
(Bredemeier & Shields, 1994, p. 175). If <strong>the</strong> results <strong>of</strong> this study are supported by future studies<br />
68
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