Attitudes of Male and Female Athletes Toward Male and Female Coaches

This investigation was done to gather some exploratory data concerning the attitudes and feelings of male and female college, high school, and junior high school varsity basketball players toward having a female coach versus a male coach. Subjects (N = 85) indicated their attitudes for playing for a hypothetical male or female coach (randomly assigned to condition) in a 2 x 2 (sex of athlete x sex of coach) between-subjects design. They were instructed to complete a questionnaire consisting of 11 items that tapped their attitudes and feelings toward a new coach. Identical background information was provided to subjects concerning the qualifications of the coach, the only difference being that for one group of subjects the coach was said to be female whereas for the other group of subjects the coach was said to be a male. Results were analyzed by a MANOVA and indicated significant interactions on seven questions, with simple main effects consistently indicating that males displayed more negative attitudes toward female coaches than did females while males and females did not differ in their view of male coaches. Results are discussed in terms of sex-role socialization patterns for males and females.