Moral Development in Sport Context: Utopia or Reality?

The aim of the present study was to examine (a) if athletes’ moral judgment is affected by sport type, the level of competition – in terms of the league in which one competes – and regular playing position, and (b) possible relations between moral judgment and the overall years of athletic experience, self-perception of sport ability, and achievement goal orientations. The sample comprised 170 adolescent athletes from three different sports: tennis (n = 59), football (n = 58) and handball (n = 53). Three questionnaires were used: the Moral Judgment Test (MJT; Lind, 1978) to assess players’ moral judgment, the Task and Ego Orientation in Sports Questionnaire (TEOSQ; Duda & Nicholls, 1992) to assess players’ goal orientations, and the same questionnaire adapted to assess players’ perceived goal orientations of their coaches (TEOSQ-PPC). Also, players' perceived sport ability as well as demographic data was reported. The ANOVAs revealed that tennis, as compared to handball athletes, scored significantly higher in MJT C-index (Moral Competence Index) and so did the amateurs (n = 114), as compared to professionals (n = 56). Playing position did not have a significant effect on C-index. Furthermore, the C-index positively correlated with perceived sport ability and task orientation. There was a low negative correlation with ego orientation. In addition, there was a nonsignificant negative correlation between the C-index and years of athletic experience.