Sports build character—but the ‘Great Sport Myth’ may be problematic

In a polarized nation, there is one thing that nearly all Americans agree on, according to a recent study: Sports are good for us.

Researchers from The Ohio State University and Ithaca College found that more than 9 out of 10 Americans agreed that sports build character and improve one’s health, while 84% agreed playing sports makes one popular in school and 85% said it makes one more well-known in the community.

According to 67% of those surveyed, playing sports even leads to better grades in school.

While these beliefs may seem harmless, they suggest that most Americans endorse what is called the “Great Sport Myth,” said Evan Davis, lead author of the study and assistant professor of sport management at Ithaca College.

“There are a lot of issues and problems in sports, but the Great Sport Myth glosses over them and says that sports are inherently good and pure,” Davis said.

Some youth who play sports face mistreatment including abuse and bullying, while even more experience burnout, unequal access to some sports and facilities, and other issues, said study co-author Chris Knoester, professor of sociology at Ohio State.

“The Great Sport Myth says that the positive results from sports are automatic—you just have to roll out the ball and good things are going to happen,” Knoester said. “That’s not true, but a large majority of Americans appear to buy into that.”

The study was published recently in the Journal of Sport and Social Issues.

It is true that sports can have many benefits for those who participate, the researchers said. The issue is to make sure that people don’t get so blinded by the good things about sports that they ignore the problems.

For example, previously published Ohio State research links youth sports participation with better mental health in adulthood. But the benefits were only apparent for those who continued to play sports throughout childhood. Most youth sports participants reported dropping out of sports and commonly said they did so because it was not fun, they were not a good enough player, they did not get along with the coach or teammates, they became injured, or they did not have enough money.

These findings underline that the benefits of sports depend on the situational contexts of them, including the presence of positive, healthy interactions and inclusive cultures, Knoester said.

The Great Sport Myth is a concept developed and introduced in 2015 by influential sport sociologist Jay Coakley, a professor emeritus at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs.

The purpose of this new study was to use a large national survey to assess and analyze the extent to which U.S. adults endorse two essential components of the myth: the assumed personal development and social capital benefits of playing sports.

Survey data came from the National Sports and Society Survey (NSASS), sponsored by Ohio State’s Sports and Society Initiative.

The survey was completed by 3,993 adults who volunteered to participate through the American Population Panel, run by Ohio State’s Center for Human Resource Research. Participants, who came from all 50 states, answered the survey online between the fall of 2018 and spring of 2019.

Because NSASS participants are disproportionately female, white and college graduates, the researchers weighted the survey results to reflect the U.S. population more accurately.

The results showed that the majority of Americans thought sports helped people’s character, health, grades, popularity in school and recognition in the community.

But the findings also showed that various groups that people belonged to, their position in society and experiences with sports all played a role in how much they agreed with these key components of the Great Sport Myth.

The researchers found that Black Americans were more likely than white Americans to embrace aspects of the myth. That makes sense, Davis said.

“It seems as if, in the Black community, sports are often viewed in a positive light and have historically been seen as a unique way to get ahead in society,” he said.

Knoester said one particularly intriguing finding was that the more children a study participant had, the more likely he or she endorsed the elements of the Great Sport Myth.

“This might have to do with the extent that children really immerse parents in sports cultures, as they take their kids to soccer practices or other sports activities,” Knoester said.

“It seems to really encourage parents to believe in how good sports are for their children.”

Christians and conservatives were more likely to embrace the benefits of sports participation for personal development and gaining popularity in the community. Heterosexuals were more positive than those who identified as sexual minorities, and men were more positive than women and those who are nonbinary.

Not surprisingly, people who said they grew up in communities high in passion for sports and who became bigger sports fans and participants were also more likely to believe in aspects of the Great Sport Myth. But people who reported being mistreated in their sports interactions, such as being subject to cruel comments or more extreme forms of abuse, were less enthusiastic about the benefits of sports.

The researchers also analyzed how combinations of these different factors were linked to feelings about the value of sports.

Based on their answers to questions about family and community exposure to sport, immersions in sport cultures, and beliefs about the values of sports, Davis and Knoester compared those who had more negative involvement and low involvement in sports compared to those who had more positive and high involvement in sports.

Results showed an enormous difference—more than 70 percentage points—in the probability between these two groups that respondents would strongly agree that sports build character.

“It is the people who are most immersed in these sports cultures that have the greatest belief in elements of this myth,” Knoester said. “But they may also be less likely to be critical of the problems that are going on.”

Davis added, “What makes the Great Sport Myth a myth is that it’s become the preferred story about sport. If you ask people how they feel about sports, they immediately go to the positives but rarely consider the negatives.

The focus should be on the context of how sports are operating in each situation, Knoester added.

“Sports often do good things, but it is important to be critical and take the time to assess our sports environments to make sure we are really getting the best outcomes that sports can produce.”