Browsing by Subject "Aggression"
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Item Athlete perceptions and consequences of parental background anger in youth ice hockey(2012-05) Winges, James BrianOne of the largest problems within the landscape of youth ice hockey is poor parental behavior. It is not uncommon to witness parents yelling and engaging in harassment and arguments with referees, coaches, other parents and players. Occasionally, physical fights between parents and/or coaches occur as well as parents yelling at their own and other kids. From the perspective of the observer these behaviors constitute background anger. Background anger as a construct within sport is defined as "the presence of verbal, nonverbal, or physical conflict between individuals that does not directly involve the observer" (Cummings & Cummings, 1988; Omli & LaVoi, 2009, p. 244). While it is suspected that background anger may promote stress in youth sport participants, little research has been conducted to directly assess its effects (Omli, LaVoi, & Wiese-Bjornstal, 2008; Omli & LaVoi, 2009). The purpose of this project was to assess the perceptions and consequences of parental background anger in youth ice hockey from the players' perspective utilizing the background anger framework of Cummings and Cummings (1988). Two studies were conducted to assess player perceptions of parental background anger. The first utilized a mixed methods design to examine youth perceptions and emotional responses associated with angry dad, angry mom, and fighting dads types of background anger. Participants were adolescent ice hockey players (94 male & 99 female). Players were sampled from USA Hockey's Advance 15 camps who were all born in 1994; making them 15 years old at the time of the study. Exact age was not taken because of the homogeneity of the sample. The Advance 15 camps represent the 102 best male and 102 best female players in the state and are tryout-based camps. Players were asked about experienced situations that were similar to one of three pictures, each depicting a different parental background anger type. Results indicated that female players perceived significantly more background anger in their games than did their male peers regardless of background anger type. Females also responded to background anger with significantly lower confidence and encouragement and greater frustration than their male peers. The angry dad background anger type created significantly greater frustration and lesser encouragement than the fighting dads background anger type, regardless of gender. Player responses indicated that the different types of background anger have different primary causes. These causes included parent behavior, referee call, player behavior, parent personality, player performance and coach behavior. The second study utilized a before and after quantitative design to assess player perceptions of and consequences to parental background anger. One hundred and thirteen Bantam male and 124 U14 female Minnesota Hockey players were sampled such that player perceptions of the normal game experience were compared to those of an experienced event where one of three types of parental background anger occurred. Results indicated that when background anger occurs there are significant detrimental changes to player emotions, performance, fun, and intensity. All of these changes were contrary to the desired outcomes of a youth sport experience. Females and males responded similarly but with different magnitude to background anger, such that females experienced greater detrimental changes in emotions, performance, and fun than males. Males experienced a greater detrimental change in intensity than did females. Female and male players perceived the causes of background anger similarly and results suggest that the different background anger types have significantly different causes. Overall these studies support the contention that parental background anger is detrimental to the health and well-being of youth ice hockey players. Results lend support to the use of the Cummings and Cummings (1988) model of background anger in the home and the use of this model in sport (Omli et al., 2008; Omli & LaVoi, 2009) as well as the new model of background anger in sport (LaVoi, Omli, & Wiese-Bjornstal, 2012). If parents continue to engage in the creation of background anger, their children will feel worse, play worse, have less fun, and play with less intensity. Downstream this could have negative effects on participation, skill development, and advancement in the sport.Item For better or worse? a developmental perspective on the role of executive function in relational aggression.(2012-08) Lingras, Katherine A.Different forms (e.g. physical and relational) and functions of aggression (e.g. proactive and reactive) have been acknowledged in the literature on aggressive behavior. Physical as well as relational subtypes are associated with psychological, social, and academic concerns for both victims and perpetrators (e.g. Fantuzzo & McWayne, 2002; Crick et al., 1999). However, other findings note associations with prosocial behavior and positive outcomes (e.g. Hawley, 2003). Less work has examined differential outcomes between the two functions of aggression. Additionally, limited work has considered cognitive factors to help explain these behaviors. In order to reconcile some of these conflicting studies, the current study examined the role of executive function (EF) and effortful control (EC) in subtypes of relationally and physically aggressive behavior. Children between the ages of 7 and 12 (N=130) completed laboratory session tasks assessing EF and related social-cognition. Parents and teachers completed rating forms of social behavior, effortful control (EC), and academic outcomes. Regression analyses yielded support for both models posited, but only for the constructs of IQ, delay of gratification, abstract thinking, inhibitory control, and anger/frustration. However, results were not in expected directions (i.e. analyses with younger children showed evidence for the deficit model, while results for older children were consistent with the cognitive sophistication model. Associations between subtypes of relational aggression and academic and social outcomes were also examined in secondary analyses, along with social-cognitive moderating factors (e.g. theory of social mind, victimization). Applications and considerations for intervention are discussed based on the current findings.Item Group composition effects on inter-pack aggressive interactions of gray wolves in Yellowstone National Park(2013-09) Cassidy, Kira A.Gray wolves (Canis lupus) are group-living carnivores that defend group territories and direct aggression against conspecifics. Here, I document 292 inter-pack aggressive interactions during 16 years of observation in Yellowstone National Park (YNP). I recorded pack sizes, compositions, and spatial orientations related to residency to determine their effects on the outcomes of aggressive interactions between groups. This represents the first attempt at directly observing aggressive interactions over an extended period and subsequently using pack characteristics to determine which groups had an advantage over their opponents. Relative pack size (RPS) was the most important factor in the odds of a pack being able to successfully displace their opponent. However, when RPS was fixed, packs with more old (>6.0 years old) members or with more adult males also had higher odds of winning. I discuss these results with respect to the adaptive value of sociality and the relative importance of certain individuals during inter-group interactions. While the importance of RPS in successful resource- and territory-defense suggests the evolution and maintenance of group-living may be due to larger packs' success during inter-pack interactions, group composition--which can change irrespective of group size--is also an important factor highlighting that some individuals are more valuable than others during inter-pack conflicts.Item Male reproductive strategies in bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)(2023-05) Mouginot, MaudBonobos are often portrayed as peaceful while chimpanzees are described as aggressive. This contrast has greatly influenced efforts to explain the evolution of war and peace in human societies. However, studies reported that males have higher reproductive skew — the stage in which some males obtain a disproportionate share of paternities — in bonobos than chimpanzees. Because reproductive skew is usually associated with intense contest competition among males for mates, how male bonobos manage to achieve such high reproductive skew despite having what seemed to be less aggressive relations with other males is intriguing. Nevertheless, while researchers have conducted extensive studies in male reproductive strategies in chimpanzees, less is known about bonobos, and how they compare to chimpanzees. Because the current literature does not provide a direct comparison of rates of aggression with similar sampling methods, we still do not know the extent to which these rates differ between these two species. One study directly compared reproductive skew in bonobos and chimpanzees, however, while they included data from five chimpanzee communities, they had data from only one bonobo community. Thus, we need more data to better understand patterns of reproductive skew within bonobos and between bonobos and chimpanzees. Finally, reproductive success can also depend on non-aggressive reproductive strategies. Male-immature interactions have been observed in promiscuous species, such as female-bonded cercopithecoid monkeys (such as rhesus macaques and olive baboons) and chimpanzees. Few studies reported male-immature interactions in bonobos, and none explored how those interactions might affect male reproductive success. In my dissertation, I aimed to fill those gaps by first directly comparing bonobos from the Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve, Democratic Republic of Congo, and chimpanzees from Gombe National Park, Tanzania, conducting generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) within an information theoretic model selection approaches. I found that despite the popular image of bonobos as being more peaceful than chimpanzees, while male chimpanzees had a higher rate of male to female aggression, male bonobos received higher rates of female aggression and, surprisingly, exhibited higher rates of aggression among males than chimpanzees. Moreover, I found that the best predictor of male bonobo copulation rate was the rate of aggression towards females, even though such aggression occurred infrequently (16 interactions out of 2,047 hours of observation). I then re-examined skew patterns using paternity data from published work and new data from Kokolopori and Gombe and reviewed the different mechanisms underlying patterns of reproductive skew. Using the multinomial index (M), I found considerable overlap in skew between the species, but the highest skew occurred among bonobos. My detailed comparison of data from Pan highlights that reproductive skew models should consider male-male dynamics including the effect of between-group competition on incentives for reproductive concessions, but also female grouping patterns and factors related to male-female dynamics including the expression of female choice. Finally, comparing male-immature interactions in bonobos at Kokolopori and chimpanzees at Gombe, I found that male bonobos play more with immatures than male chimpanzees, but I did not find any consistent difference in grooming duration among males and immatures between the two species of Pan. I did not find strong evidence that male bonobos interact with immatures as a mating or paternal effort. However, I found that males were more inclined to copulate with their closer associates and to play and groom with their close associates’ offspring.