The emotional abuse of elite child athletes by their coaches

This study investigates the prevalence of emotional abuse of elite child athletes by their coaches in the UK. Previous research has focused primarily on the parent–child relationship, with little attention given to date on the sports environment. Participants were 12 former elite child athletes who competed as internationals in their respective age groups. All participants had been identified as elite athletes between the ages of 8 and 16 years (M = 13.1 yr, SD = 2.4 yr) and had competitive careers of between 6 and 10 years. Participants were from the sports of diving (N = 2), football (N = 3), gymnastics (N = 4), hockey, netball and track and field athletics (N = 1 each). The study was a retrospective analysis of their experiences as elite child athletes. (Age at interview: M = 22.9 yr, SD = 0.9 yr. male = 4, female = 8.) Thus, participants were reflecting on experiences from about 10 years previously, so their responses represented the residual impact of their experiences that had survived over this period. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and response-coding techniques. Abusive behaviours were categorized under eight headings: belittling, humiliating, shouting, scapegoating, rejecting, isolating, threatening and ignoring. Results showed that all (N = 12) of the participants reported experiencing belittling and shouting by their coach, nine athletes reported frequent threatening behaviour, nine reported frequent humiliation, seven reported scapegoating, six reported rejection or being ignored and four reported being isolated when they were elite child athletes. All participants reported that the behaviour of their coaches changed and became more negative after they were identified as elite performers. Participants reported feeling stupid, worthless, upset, less confident, humiliated, depressed, fearful and angry as a result of the behaviour of their coaches. The results provide tentative evidence that the behaviour of some coaches is a threat to the psychological well-being of elite child athletes. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.