Prosocial and antisocial behaviour in school sports

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyse prosocial and antisocial behaviour in school sport. It involved 247 girls and boys between the ages of 8 and 12 years, organised into five groups: athletics, football, basketball, multisport and sedentary. The results suggest that in the groups of sportspersons, boys present greater antisocial behaviour than girls and girls show greater empathy. The football group presents less perspective-taking and the sedentary group greater empathic concern. In turn, the football group exhibits greater aggression than the other groups, with significant differences in relation to athletics. It may be concluded that participation in competitive children’s sport is not directly related to greater prosocial behaviour and less antisocial behaviour.