
Yelling. Taunts. Insults. Harsh words. Physical violence. About 1 in 5 college athletes receive such abuse from their coaches, researchers report. Overall, nearly 19% of more than 3,300 athletes on National College Athletic Association (NCAA) teams said they’d experienced abusive supervision from their coach. Athletes in team sports and athletes with a disability had significantly higher odds of drawing abuse from their coach, results show. “Overall, athletes rely heavily on their coaches for professional and personal growth,” the research team led by senior investigator Dr. Yetsa Tuakli-Worsornu, founding director of the Stanford University Center for Sports Equity, noted. “The presence of abusive leadership behaviors can hinder this development, as well as negatively affect an athlete’s performance, experience of sport and mental health,” the researchers added. For the study, they analyzed data from the 2021-22 myPlaybook survey administered by the University of North Carolina Greensboro Institute to Promote Athlete Health & Wellness, in collaboration with Stanford University’s Sports Equity Lab. The survey included questions regarding abusive supervision, to which 3,317 student athletes provided responses. Of those, 618 (nearly 19%) said their coaches had been abusive, results show. Athletes participating in a team sport were about 10% more likely to be abused, and those with a disability were 17% more likely, results show. Abuse was not significantly associated with an athlete’s race, gender identity or sexual orientation,… read on > read on >