The Relationship Between Jealousy and Self-Esteem in Collegiate Athletes

<p>Previous research has found contradictory results when examining the possible relationship between jealousy and self-esteem (Guerrero & Afifi, 1998, Mathes & Severa, 1981; Mikulincer, Bizman, & Aizenberg, 1989, Peretti & Pudowski, 1997; Stewart & Beatty, 1985; White, 1981). Jealousy has been most often researched in romantic relationships (Peretti & Pudowski, 1997; Salovey & Rodin, 1986) and social comparison situations (Bers & Rodin, 1984, Mikulincer, Bizman, & .Aizenberg, 1989). Few studies have examined jealousy in an athletic setting. Sport jealousy has received little attention because until recently, there was no reliable instrument to measure jealousy in sport. Pease (1987) investigated the relationship between social comparison jealousy and team cohesion using the Social Comparison Jealousy Scale (SCJ, Pease, 1987) and found a nonsignificant negative correlation between jealousy and team cohesion. Schelling and Huddleston (1999) administered the Sport Jealousy Scale (SJS; Schelling & Huddleston, 1999)), a sport-specific measure of jealousy, to track and field athletes and found they were "moderately jealous." Kamphoff(2000) utilized a newer version ofthe scale, the Revised Sport Jealousy Scale (SJS-IV), and found a significant negative correlation between jealousy and team cohesion, as well as gender differences in jealousy. The purpose of the present investigation was to further examine differences in jealousy among collegiate athletes. Differences in jealousy were examined among team and individual sports, starters and reserves, males and females, and classification in school (i.e., freshman, sophomore), as well as the possible relationship between jealousy and self-esteem. In addition, this research investigated the reliability and validity for KamphofPs (2000) Revised Sport Jealousy Scale (SJS-IV) with a new response format. Participants included 97 collegiate athletes (47 men and 50 women) attending a southeastern university, who were members ofthe following sports: baseball (n = 11), men's golf (n = 9), men's (n = 17) and women's soccer (n = 20), softball (n = 14), women's swimming (n = 16), and men's tennis (n = 9). The participants completed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE), the Revised Sport Jealousy Scale (SJS-IV), and a demographics questionnaire. Reliability ofthe scale was .88 and .86 for Factor 1, or Performance Jealousy, and .77 for Factor 2, or Personal Jealousy. For both factors, there was a gender main effect with women having higher jealousy scores than males. For Performance Jealousy, there was a 3-way interaction for sport type, class, and starting status. There was a significant negative relationship between jealousy and self-esteem for all of the athletes.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science in Kinesiology with an Emphasis in Sport Psychology

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis (open access)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Department of Health and Kinesiology

Year dc:date.available

2001

Author dc:creator

• Parker, Paula M.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Kevin L. Burke
• Charles J. Hardy

• ETD
• Jealousy
• Self-esteem
• Collegiate athletes
• Individual sports
• Team sports
• Gender
• Sport position
• Starter
• Non-starter
• Kinesiology
• Medicine and Health Sciences

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd_legacy/228

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu:etd_legacy-1291