Encounter with Bullying in Sport and Its Consequences for Youth: Amateur Athletes' Approach

Detection of cyberhate speech towards female sport in the Arabic Xsphere

The recent rapid growth in the number of Saudi female athletes and sports enthusiasts' presence on social media has exposed them to gender-hate speech and discrimination. Hate speech, a harmful worldwide phenomenon, can have severe consequences. Its prevalence in sports has surged alongside the growing influence of social media, with X serving as a prominent platform for the expression of hate speech and discriminatory comments, often targeting women in sports. This research combines two studies that explores online hate speech and gender biases in the context of sports, proposing an automated solution for detecting hate speech targeting women in sports on platforms like X, with a particular focus on Arabic, a challenging domain with limited prior research. In Study 1, semi-structured interviews with 33 Saudi female athletes and sports fans revealed common forms of hate speech, including gender-based derogatory comments, misogyny, and appearance-related discrimination. Building upon the foundations laid by Study 1, Study 2 addresses the pressing need for effective interventions to combat hate speech against women in sports on social media by evaluating machine learning (ML) models for identifying hate speech targeting women in sports in Arabic. A dataset of 7,487 Arabic tweets was collected, annotated, and pre-processed. Term frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) and part-of-speech (POS) feature extraction techniques were used, and various ML algorithms were trained Random Forest consistently outperformed, achieving accuracy (85% and 84% using TF-IDF and POS, respectively) compared to other methods, demonstrating the effectiveness of both feature sets in identifying Arabic hate speech. The research contribution advances the understanding of online hate targeting Arabic women in sports by identifying various forms of such hate. The systematic creation of a meticulously annotated Arabic hate speech dataset, specifically focused on women's sports, enhances the dataset's reliability and provides valuable insights for future research in countering hate speech against women in sports. This dataset forms a strong foundation for developing effective strategies to address online hate within the unique context of women's sports. The research findings contribute to the ongoing efforts to combat hate speech against women in sports on social media, aligning with the objectives of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 and recognizing the significance of female participation in sports.

Association Between 24-Hour Movement Guideline and Physical, Verbal, and Relational Forms of Bullying Among Chinese Adolescents

The Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Children and Youth recommends specific guidance in physical activity, screen time, and sleep duration. The current research will further explore potential exposures between healthy movement and being involved in a bullying incident as a bully or a victim in a representative sample of adolescents in China. A total of 67 821 Chinese students (response rate = 98.4%) were included in this study (mean age = 13.04 years). The results showed that meeting sleep recommendation only, meeting screen time recommendation only, and meeting both these two recommendations might be protective factors against being bullied or bullying others. Meeting moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) recommendation only reported higher odds of being victims in all forms of bullying while meeting both MVPA and another combination of the guideline would relate to lower odds of being a bully and a bully-victim in all forms of bullying involvement.

Predictors of Bullying Perpetration and Bullying Victimization Among Semi-Professional Team Sport Players in North Cyprus

This study explores the influence of individual and relational predictors on bullying perpetration/victimization among semi-professional team sport players in North Cyprus. Three variables reflect on an individual's level characteristics (e.g., gender, age, and nationality), and another one, representing the relational level factor (e.g., negative coaching behavior). The current paper obtained data from athletes through convenient sampling technique and online survey utilization. A total of 190 sports players with an average age of 24.77 (SD = 4.52) participated. All participants were club athletes from 16 diverse nations, competing in four different sports disciplines: football, volleyball, handball, and basketball. Hierarchical regression analysis was implemented to evaluate the above underlying linkages. It was found that age, nationality, and the coach's negative personal rapport significantly predicted bullying victimization dynamics among athletes. Bullying perpetration was only predicted by negative personal rapport with the coach but not by any of the individual level predictors. The moderation analysis showed that negative personal rapport with the coach significantly predicted the level of bullying victimization, the age and the nationality of the athlete moderated the relationship between the negative personal rapport and bullying victimization. In other words, the negative personal rapport had a higher effect on bullying victimization for the younger athletes and for international ones. Such findings have the potential to shape the base for further ongoing works, which could underline the critical demand for more emphasis and analysis of nationality, gender, age, and coach's negative rapport on bullying perpetration or victimization. The significance of the study's findings, its limits, and potential paths for further interpersonal violence research are addressed.

"I Gave Up Football and I Had No Intention of Ever Going Back": Retrospective Experiences of Victims of Bullying in Youth Sport

Bullying is a global issue that, beyond school, is present in different social contexts, such as sport environments. The main objective of this study was to get to know the experiences of victims of bullying in sport throughout their youth sport training. Semi-structured interviews to four Spanish women and seven Spanish men were carried out, within an age range of 17–27 (M_age = 21 years, SD = 3.69). The following main themes were established by means of a hierarchical content analysis: (a) “bullying characterization,” (b) “dealing with bullying,” and (c) “consequences of bullying.” The results show the presence of physical, verbal and social bullying in the sport context, with the changing room being the space where this type of behavior is most frequently developed. Most victims show an internal attribution (self-blame) for the bullying event, related to their motor skills and their personal physical and psychological characteristics. Double victimization can be observed, at the sport club and at the educational center. Passive strategies are used to deal with the situation, while little support is shown by sport agents (teammates and coaches). The victims, as a consequence of the bullying experience, suffer from short and long-term negative effects on a psychosocial level. The study highlights the necessity to design and implement programs focused on the prevention, detection and intervention of bullying for sport organizations, bearing in mind all the agents that make them up (coaches, management teams, families, and players). Furthermore, the importance of promoting the creation of safe sport environments, free from any kind of violence, is emphasized.

Does stammering act as a barrier to exercise and sport in Irish adults who stammer?

PURPOSE

Exercise and sport participation lead to many physical and psychosocial benefits. However, barriers to exercise and sporting participation exist. This study aims to examine if stammering acts as a barrier to exercise and sporting participation in adults.

METHODS

One hundred and six adults who stammer (male n = 74, female n = 32; 33.83 ± 14.5 years) completed an anonymous questionnaire which evaluated their stammering history, exercise and sporting participation, views on why they exercise, whether stammering prevented or negatively influenced their participation in exercise or sport. Descriptive statistics were then calculated.

RESULTS

The majority (90.6 %) of participants take part in some form of exercise/sport. However, their stammer prevented them from taking part in a specific exercise/sport at least once (49.1 %), due to being too nervous to introduce themselves, nervous or fear of stammering or being judged. Their stammer also negatively impacted their involvement when participating at least once (42.4 %), with not feeling part of the team and fear of speaking reported. Self-disclosure of their stammer and improving awareness of stammering were identified as common facilitators for taking part in exercise/sport.

CONCLUSION

Stammering was not found to impact general participation in exercise and sport but was identified as a barrier to partaking in specific exercise and sport and their enjoyment thereof. Encouraging those who stammer to inform those involved in sport and exercise (e.g. fellow players, coaches) about their stammer and improving stammer awareness across the general and sporting population may encourage further participation in exercise and sport in those who stammer.

Trajectories of Victimization and Bullying at University: Prevention for a Healthy and Sustainable Educational Environment

The bullying phenomenon is both an uncomfortable reality and a serious social problem for educational community institutions. Its presence is incompatible with a healthy and sustainable education environment. The educational, psychological, and social consequences of bullying transcend the personal sphere and reach the family and work environment in adulthood. Traditionally, bullying has been studied in the compulsory educational stages. However, at present, this problem is also being addressed in higher education. The present research, which is of a transversal nature, aims to explore bullying in the Spanish university setting, along with its typology, scope, and predictive factors, from both socio-demographic and family perspectives. In this sense, we set ourselves the following objectives: (GO1) to see if university students are exposed to bullying, as well as to identify the profiles of the subjects of bullying from three dimensions (physical, relational, and verbal victimization) and (GO2) to determine whether there are trajectories of bullying in university students from the compulsory education stage to the present. Based on a descriptive quantitative methodology, this study was conducted in 10 Spanish universities. The research’s major results show that the persistence of bullying in university classrooms is of a relational and verbal nature, but is not physical. Victimization occurs mainly in women who carry out studies linked to social and legal sciences or art and the humanities. Additionally, it is observed that a spiral of relational violence is produced, perpetuating this type of aggression over time. Among other predictive factors in university students is that they have suffered relational violence during their compulsory education. These data should alert educational and health institutions about the persistence of bullying in university students to prevent it and to facilitate its early detection and treatment to eradicate this problem from higher education classrooms.