Nicole Bolter (PhD, University of Minnesota, 2010) and Maureen Weiss, Kinesiology professor, have two papers–one published and one “in press” in Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology–on development and validation of a measure of coaching behaviors that promote sportspersonship in athletes. The published paper is titled, “Coaching for character: Development of the Sportsmanship Coaching Behaviors Scale (SCBS),” (2012, Volume 1, pp. 73-90), and the in-press paper is titled, “Coaching behaviors and adolescent athletes’ sportspersonship outcomes: Further validation of the Sportsmanship Behaviors Scale (SCBS).”
Using multiple methodologies (focus groups, expert panel, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling), Bolter and Weiss provided evidence of construct validity for a measure that assesses six coaching behaviors–sets expectations for good sportsmanship, reinforces good sportsmanship, punishes poor sportsmanship, teaches good sportsmanship, models good sportsmanship, and prioritizes winning over good sportsmanship–that positively or negatively influence athletes’ prosocial and antisocial behaviors toward opponents and teammates. This measure can be used in future studies on coaches’ behaviors in relation to athletes’ character development through sport participation.
Dr. Bolter just completed a two-year lecturer position at San Francisco State University and is headed to Boise State University in a tenure-track assistant professor position.