Maltreatment is an umbrella term used to refer to "volitional acts that result in or have the potential to result in physical injuries and/or psychological harm". Fundamental to an understanding of maltreatment is the misuse of power, including acts of commission and acts of omission. Although maltreatment in sport is widely acknowledged, there is limited research to-date addressing the relationships between maltreatment experiences and athlete mental health, which is perplexing, given the burgeoning of scholarship on athlete mental health. This chapter draws connections between existing research related to athletes' experiences of maltreatment and mental health challenges. It focuses on anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and self-harm/suicide ideation since these mental health concerns are commonly reported by athletes. Athletes have often reported experiencing anxiety, depression, and burnout during their careers. Eating disorders are another frequently reported mental health challenge in sport and tend to be more prominent in athletes than the general population, particularly for women involved in aesthetic sports.

Despite over 30 years of scholarly attention devoted to bullying and cyberbullying behaviors in school settings, research related to these experiences in the sport context remains limited. Yet, numerous anecdotal examples and preliminary evidence suggests cyberbullying exists in the sport domain and must be addressed given the potential adverse psychosocial outcomes for athletes. This commentary reviews research related to bullying and cyberbullying in the sport literature. To advance our understanding of cyberbullying in sport, recommendations are made to clarify conceptual issues around the central defining features (i.e., power, repetition, intent) commonly used to operationalize these experiences. Further, methodological issues to be addressed are discussed, including, the use of more diverse methods; adoption of an intersectional lens to all research; and the development, implementation, and evaluation of interdisciplinary evidence-based prevention and intervention strategies. Only through a research base that addresses these conceptual and methodological challenges, will empirically-informed prevention and intervention strategies be developed to advance safe, healthy, and inclusive sport environments.

Despite sport being a vehicle through which youth may achieve positive developmental outcomes, maltreatment in the youth sport context remains a significant concern. With increased athlete advocacy and research demonstrating the high prevalence of maltreatment in sport, and the urgent need to address it, many international organisations have created child protection in sport initiatives. Of particular focus to athletes and researchers is the provision of evidence-based comprehensive education and independent reporting mechanisms for athletes who experience harm. The current study examined the extent to which the publicly accessible information provided by three sport-specific child protection organisations regarding education and reporting is aligned with recommendations provided by researchers and athletes. With regard to education, the findings highlight accessibility, programming for various stakeholders, and coverage of topics of interest (e.g., forms of harm and reporting processes). However, educational information about equity, diversity, and inclusion and information on how to foster positive environments in sport was lacking. For reporting mechanisms, results showed that each organisation’s approach to receiving reports of maltreatment varied, including their ability to directly intake, investigate, and sanction instances of maltreatment. The findings are interpreted and critiqued considering previous literature and recommendations for future research and practice are suggested.

The growth of social media has provided sports fans with unprecedented access to information about celebrity athletes’ personal and professional lives and the means to communicate to them. To date, fan-athlete interactions on social media have often been viewed as positive, with cited benefits of heightened interpersonal relationships and team support. Potential negative consequences of interactions on social media, especially when professional athletes’ personal and professional norm violations are exposed, are not well-understood. Based upon the notion that public shaming practices are often used for the purposes of ensuring that individuals adhere to expected behavioural norms, this study sought to explore the presence and nature of public shaming of professional athletes through social media in response to athletes’ norm violations. A qualitative content analysis of 7700 fans’ comments on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram directed at eleven male and female professional athletes from six different sports and the organisations that employed them were collected. Findings demonstrated fans engage in public shaming of athletes following norm violations, as illustrated through fans’ offers or withdrawals of support, and descriptions of desired physical, psychosocial and career-related consequences for the athletes. Findings are interpreted in light of Braithwaite’s Theory and the influences within and outside of the professional sport environment contributing to public shaming practices are discussed.

Recent research has illustrated sport fans' propensity to engage in public shaming practices directed at professional athletes via social media in response to athletes' perceived norm violations. Public shaming - considered the act of expressing discontent for another's behaviour - is demonstrated through fans' expressed withdrawals of support, and detailed depictions of desired psychosocial, physical, and career-related consequences for the athletes. While this research reveals what these practices look like, little is known about what leads fans to engage in them. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the nature of the fan-athlete relationship online and the implications of this relationship for the public shaming of professional athletes on social media. Guided by a social constructivist perspective, we utilised a narrative methodology to conduct semi-structured interviews with five professional sport fans (three male, two female) who engaged regularly with professional athletes and teams on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Findings broadly revealed that fans cultivate a sense of identification and belonging through fandom that is enhanced by perceived relationships with professional athletes developed via social media. When these perceived relationships are challenged by professional athletes' norm violations, fans' sense of identification and belonging are threatened, which provokes public shaming on social media. These findings are interpreted through the existing literature related to fan identification, parasocial relationships, and belonging. Directions for future research are proposed.

Public shaming – a common practice with historical roots – is defined as an individual’s public communication of disapproval or contempt for the behaviour of another individual. Previous research has explored fans’ engagement in public shaming of professional athletes in response to athletes’ transgressions and found fans withdraw support and provide extensive descriptions of their desired psychosocial, physical, and career-related consequences for the athletes. The existing literature also questions the extent to which public shaming of professional athletes online may be influenced by athletes’ social identities. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to explore the ways in which fans’ public shaming practices may be influenced by the gender of professional athletes. A social constructionist perspective guided our qualitative thematic content analysis, which examined 7700 comments by sport fans on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter directed at professional athletes in response to their legal, social, and sport-specific norm transgressions. We implemented methodological pluralism to analyze the dataset through a gendered lens. The findings suggest fans’ public shaming practices illustrate contentious views on gender through explicit objectification of females, promotion of hyper-masculinity, and victim blaming on social media. The findings are interpreted in light of the extant literature related to rape culture in sport and the broader societal implications of fans’ online behaviours are discussed. Ethical issues embedded within research of this nature are also explored and recommendations for future research are proposed.

The purpose of the study was to explore interuniversity student-athletes’ experiences with bullying victimisation. Eleven female athletes from a range of individual and team sports volunteered to be interviewed about their personal experiences as targets and witnesses of bullying behaviours from their teammates. The interviews elicited stories that were analysed using narrative thematic analysis. The athletes discussed a range of negative repercussions associated with bullying victimisation including reduced enjoyment of sport, isolation from their teams, reduced self-esteem, negative emotions including sadness, embarrassment, and fear, and detriments to sport and academic performance. Interpretation of the athletes’ stories led us to conclude that bullying represents a form of peer-to-peer interpersonal conflict in the sport context that has serious negative effects on athlete mental health and well-being. Bullying between teammates should be included in the broader conversation regarding identifying and preventing harassment and abuse to foster safe and inclusive sport environments. Future research should explore roles beyond that of the victim to inform effective strategies to intervene and prevent bullying in interuniversity sport contexts.

Peer-to-peer bullying is a serious and pervasive form of maltreatment experienced, perpetrated, and witnessed by young people in school settings (Modecki et al., 2014;). Bullying behaviours may be direct, or relatively open attacks on the victim of a physical or verbal nature, and indirect or covert social acts such as gossip, exclusion or isolation (Crick & Grotpeter, 1995; Olweus, 1993, p.87). These behaviours in school settings are associated with significant negative psychosocial and physical consequences (Campbell et al., 2012). Surprisingly, bullying experiences in organized sport settings have received minimal research attention literature. Of the few existing studies, research suggests bullying does occur in sport (Collot-D'Escury & Dudink, 2010; Kerr, Jewett, MacPherson & Stirling, 2016) and is influenced by several factors, including an athlete's lack of ability, age and status, perceived lack of effort in practice or competition, and particular personality attributes (Kerr et al., 2016). Building on this foundation, this presentation will address the findings of two recent studies that explored the prevalence of bullying in sport through an online questionnaire completed by 122 athletes, as well as, the effects of these behaviours derived from 9 narrative interviews. Results demonstrate the scope of athletes' experiences as victims, perpetrators, or witnesses of verbal, social, and physical bullying and illustrate the adverse implications of these experiences, including negative effects on mental health, sense of self, and attrition from sport. The findings are interpreted with attention to the psychosocial development of athletes and the importance of enhancing scholarship on this topic.

The recent and high profile cases of sexual abuse across several sports and countries has drawn significant attention and scrutiny from stakeholders in sport and the public at-large. Within the Canadian context, cases of sexual abuse have emerged in gymnastics, speed skating, swimming, and alpine skiing in the past year alone. The trauma experienced by abused athletes, as seen by the recent USA gymnastics cases for example, should sound the alarm that sport is not inherently a safe or 'good' place for all. Given the importance of the coach-athlete relationship on the nature and quality of athletes' sport experiences, knowledge of various forms of abuse and neglect, including and strategies for prevention and intervention, are critical for sport researchers and practitioners alike. Further, there appears to be a gap in addressing athlete abuse within sport psychology research as well as in safeguarding practice in sport. The purpose of this symposium is to present the current state of knowledge with respect to athlete maltreatment. Using the conceptual framework proposed by Stirling (2009), relational and non-relational maltreatment will be described, followed by current research on sexual, emotional and physical abuse, neglect, hazing and bullying in sport. Within each presentation, implications for the field of sport psychology will be drawn.

The educational benefits of embedding hands-on experience in higher education curriculum are widely recognized (Beard & Wilson, 2013). However, to optimize the learning from these opportunities, they need to be grounded in empirical learning theory. The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of internships in Ontario colleges and universities, and to assess the congruence between the components of these internships and Kolb’s (1984) experiential learning framework. Information from 44 Ontario universities and colleges, including 369 internship program webpages and 77 internship course outlines, was analyzed. The findings indicated that internship programs overemphasize the practical aspect of the experience at the expense of linking theory and practice. To optimize experiential education opportunities, recommendations include establishing explicit learning activities consistent with each experiential learning mode, including practice, reflection, connecting coursework and practical experience, and implementing creative ideas in practice.

Given the limited research on bullying among post-secondary students and within settings outside of school, this exploratory study investigated the bullying and cyber bullying experiences of post-secondary student athletes in intercollegiate athletic contexts. An online exploratory survey assessed experiences of victimization, perpetration, and witnessing in the context of sport. Respondents included 122 student athletes (64% female, 35% male) across 24 sports. The sample self-reported 48% victimization, 31% perpetration, and 62% witnessing for bullying. For cyber bullying, the sample self-reported 7% victimization, 9% perpetration, and 15% witnessing. Other findings included: types, timing, and locations of bullying; reasons for bullying; and responses to these experiences. Findings are interpreted in light of existing sport literature and directions for future research are proposed.

Introduction: Engagement in the process of identity development has been identified as the most significant milestone of adolescence (Erikson, 1968) and peer groups serve as a key facilitator in this process (Kroger, 2007). Peer groups are particularly significant in the lives of female adolescents, as females derive a substantial part of their identity through these relationships (Josselson, 1987). Despite the significance of personal identity development in adolescence and the importance of peer groups in this process, this area has not been explored in the extant sport psychology literature.Purpose: To investigate the potential influence of peer groups in organized sport on female adolescent identity development.Methods: Data were collected through photo-elicitation and semistructured interviews of eight female athletes between the ages of 13 and 17 years. Participants in the study played a variety of sports and competed at various levels. Data were analysed using a thematic narrative approach.Results: Participant stories suggest that interactions with peers in sport assist female adolescent athletes in developing their psychological (including emotional and intellectual), social, and physical selves.Conclusion: Stories shared by the female athletes suggest that a relationship exists between peer influence and identity development in sport. Findings are interpreted through Erikson's (1968) Theory of Psychosocial Development and the nature of the relationships in which peer influence on identity development occurs are discussed. Recommendations for future research are proposed. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In spite of the well-documented health and developmental benefits of sport participation for young people, negative outcomes such as injuries too often characterize children’s and adolescent sport. To-date, far less attention has been devoted to psychological as compared with physical injuries and yet the media are infused with accounts of maltreatment from coaches, parents, and teammates. The purpose of this chapter is to review the research on psychological harm experienced by young athletes in the important relationships within the sport context – namely, those with the coach(es), parent(s), and teammates. Using an athlete-centered perspective, research on harmful parental behaviors, emotionally abusive coaching behaviors, as well as hazing and bullying, will be reviewed with a focus on the psychological injuries caused for the young athlete. Recommendations are made for further research and applied interventions that focus on the cognitive and affective elements of empathy-building.

While a growing body of literature exists on the potential for inappropriate touch and maltreatment in sport, research on the importance of touch within this environment is limited. The purpose of this research was to better understand the conditions under which touch is viewed as important in sport. More specifically, this study examined coaches' and athletes' perceptions of the importance of touch, including examples of positive athlete touch, situations in which positive touch is used, and factors affecting athletes' acceptability of touch within this environment. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 coaches and 13 athletes. A variety of sports and sport types were represented. Data were coded using a combination of inductive and deductive coding techniques. All participants shared examples of positive athlete touch in sport including, as some examples: hugs, high fives, pats on the back/head/shoulder, hand shaking, and spotting. A number of reasons for the use of positive touch were identified, which were categorized into the higher order themes of affective, behavioural, cultural, and safety reasons. Factors affecting athletes' general acceptability of touch were also discussed, including demographic, intrapersonal, interpersonal, and contextual variables. Findings are interpreted to suggest that touch is important and necessary within the sport environment; however, in order to be most beneficial, it needs to be facilitated in a way that is best suited to the individual needs of the athlete. Based on the study findings, ways in which touch may be enhanced in sport are suggested and recommendations are posed for future research.

With the broadening of focus on child maltreatment beyond intra-familial settings, there is growing awareness of occurrences of maltreatment within the sport context. Millions of children participate in organized sport annually, and despite a tendency to view sport as a context by which to enhance the overall health and development of children, it is also a context in which children are vulnerable to experiences of maltreatment. The well-documented power ascribed to coaches, the unregulated nature of sport and a “win-at-all-costs” approach contribute to a setting that many propose is conducive to maltreatment. A number of high profile cases of sexual abuse of athletes across several countries in the 1990s prompted sport organizations to respond with the development of child protection measures. This study examined seven child protection in sport initiatives in terms of the extent to which they originated from research, had content that was consistent with scholarly work and were evaluated empirically. The findings indicated that these initiatives were not empirically derived nor evaluated. Recommendations are made to more closely align research with these initiatives in order to protect children and to promote a safe and growth-enhancing experience for young participants in sport.

This study examined the use of physical conditioning as a form of punishment in sport. Although physical conditioning exercises are often used to improve physical fitness, anecdotal reports suggest that they may also be used to ensure social control of athletes and their behaviour. To date, there is an absence of empirical research in sport examining the use of physical conditioning exercises as a form of punishment. A descriptive survey was created for the purposes of this study. A total of 335 female and male kinesiology and physical education students completed the survey; 45 different sports were represented. The participants’ highest level of sport participation were: international (6%), national (CIS) (17%), provincial (18%), club (45%), and intramural/houseleague (12.5%). Overall, 88% of the participants reportedly engaged in physical conditioning as punishment with the most common forms being: (i) continuous running, swimming, cycling, or skating (66%); and, (ii) weight lifting, chin-ups, push-ups, or sit-ups (41%). The most common reasons for incurring punishment were: being late, poor attitude, lack of effort, poor practice and poor competition performances. No gender differences existed in any of the analyses. Participants' reportedly experienced fatigue (84.5%), decreased enthusiasm (39%), irritability (37.5%), apathy (18%) as a result of experiencing conditioning as punishment. A Pearson chi-squared test indicated that as the level of competition increased, there was a significant (p=.01) decrease in the experience of punishment increased. The findings are interpreted through theories of power and social control. Recommendations for future research and applied interventions will be presented.