The moderating role of sportsmanship and violent attitudes on social and personal responsibility in adolescents. A clustering-classification approach

The aim of this study was to classify a randomized sample of adolescents according to their violent and sportsmanship attitudes to determine the influence of personal and social responsibility levels on each cluster. The sample comprised of 595 adolescents, aged between 12 and 15 years old (M ± SD = 13.9 ± 2.3 yr). Participants completed the Multidimensional Orientations Towards Sports Scale, the California School Climate and Safety Survey and the Personal and Social Responsibility Questionnaire. Cluster analysis was conducted to classify adolescent’ profiles according to the violence and sportsmanship scores. Discriminant analysis, Pearson correlation and ANOVA tests were performed to identify the relationships between personal and social responsibility levels on each cluster. Cluster analysis identified three well-defined profiles: cluster 1 (sportsmanlike and nonviolent), cluster 2 (sportsmanlike and violent) and cluster 3 (unsportsmanlike and nonviolent). Results confirmed a negative impact of aggressiveness on obedience and pro-social behaviours during school stages, but sportsmanship mitigated this negative influence. The sportsmanlike and nonviolent profile obtained the highest personal and social responsibility level. The lowest personal responsibility scores came from sportsmanlike and violent adolescents. This study emphasizes the potential of positive attitude towards sport and physical education to magnify (or mitigate) adolescents’ responsibility according to specific profiles. To reduce violent behaviour and improve sportsmanship attitudes would contribute to a better development of personal and social responsibility in adolescents. The current findings may serve to orientate professionals dealing with adolescents in the role of sportsmanship development as an educational tool to mitigate violent behaviour.