Expressed Attitudes of Various Groups of Athletes toward Athletic Competition

A competitive attitude scale of 22 items was designed for the purpose of revealing to what degree various sports groups subscribed to the “win-at-any-cost” philosophy of athletics. The scale was administered to 228 athletes participating in six varsity sports at three types of schools. The data revealed no differences in the expressed attitudes among athletes categorized by sports or among athletes categorized by the type of school attended. An analysis of the results of this study suggest that outcomes in sportsmanlike behavior may vary under different leadership and environment and that future studies in this area should be designed to study these variables.