A Longitudinal Analysis of Intercollegiate Media Guide Covers (Kane & Buysse, 2005). If one compares images of male and female athletes from the same sport in the same year from the same institution what does this reveal? Two earlier studies (1990 and 1997) found that female athletes were significantly less likely to be portrayed as active sport participants and more likely to be portrayed in passive and traditionally feminine, sexually provocative poses than were their male counterparts. It was also discovered that there were few differences between the two time periods. However, recent developments suggest that women’s sports are gaining widespread acceptance, meaning female athletes are taken more seriously as athletes. If this is the case, we would expect to see sportswomen portrayed on the court, in action. To test this hypothesis, we replicated the two previous studies by examining media guide covers from the 2003-2004 seasons. Results indicate sportswomen were overwhelmingly represented on the court, in uniform, and in active, athletic images. In short, females were portrayed as serious, competent athletes which was in sharp contrast to earlier investigations we conducted. [more information]

Media Representation of Division I Intercollegiate Softball and Baseball Teams on Sport Marketing Posters. Extending Kane and Buysse’s (2005) longitudinal media guide study, the first phase of this project will compare women’s and men’s marketing posters for softball and baseball in the Big 10, Big East, PAC-10, Big 12 and the SEC conferences on four poster-content variables: 1) in uniform v. out of uniform, 2) on the court v. off the court, 3) in active poses v. passive poses (e.g., pictures from a game versus a staged photograph), and 4) themes represented within the posters. In the second phase, focus groups comprised of adolescent girls (ages 13-17), will be interviewed to ascertain how they assign meaning and interpret images of female athletes represented in the posters. Heather Maxwell (PI), Dr. Nicole LaVoi.

Click here to read the 2007 North American Society for Sport Management abstract of "Competent Athletes or Family Portraits: Content Analysis of Images on NCAA Division I Softball and Baseball Sport Marketing Posters."

The Influence of Occupational Status and Sex of Decision Maker on Media Representations in Intercollegiate Sports. This study employed a decision making corollary to Kanter’s homologous reproduction theory (1977ab) to examine the intersections of occupational position of decision maker, sex of decision maker and media representations within intercollegiate men’s and women’s sports. Data were gathered from Bowl Championship Series schools across 12 selected sports that published a media guide for the 2003-04 season. Data included two components: 1) 528 total media guides (252 for men; 276 for women) and; 2) corresponding data (n = 528) pertaining to who made the decision regarding how athletes were portrayed on the media guide covers. Descriptive analysis revealed two trends: 1) women were under represented (i.e., “tokens”) as sole decision makers within men’s sports, but not for women’s sports and; 2) a majority of decisions were not made alone, but by a decision-making dyad with both men’s and women’s sports. Logistic regression analysis revealed which factors significantly influenced media portrayals in men’s and women’s sports. Results are framed using mechanisms of gendered social control exercised in sport organizations—homophobia, homologous reproduction, and hegemony. Implications for application and future research are suggested.

LaVoi N.M., Buysse, J., Maxwell, H.D., & Kane, M.J. (2007). The Influence of Occupational Status and Sex of Decision Maker on Media Representations in Intercollegiate Athletics. Women in Sport & Physical Activity Journal, 15(4), 32-43.

“Coaching Girls”: A Content Analysis of Best-Selling Popular Press Coaching Books. Given the lack of nationalized and required coach education programs for those involved with youth sports, self-help coaching books are a common source of knowledge. With the exception of critiques of young adult sports fiction (Kane, 1998; Kreigh & Kane, 1997), sport media research has lacked investigation of mediums that impact non-elite youth and adolescent girls, and youth coaches and parents of young female athletes. The purpose of this study is to examine ‘coaching girls’ books—specifically how differences between female and male athletes are constructed. A content analysis was performed on selective chapters within a criterion sampling of six best-selling, self-help ‘coaching girls’ books. Results indicate coaching girls books are written from a perspective of inflated gender difference, and represent a simplified, stereotyped account of coaching girls. Four first-order themes emerged from analysis: Problematizing Coaching Girls, Girls Constructed As “Other,” Ambivalence, and Sustaining the Gender Binary. Implications of these themes are discussed.

LaVoi, N.M., Becker, E., & Maxwell, H.D. (2007).Content Analysis of Best-Selling Coaching Girls Books. Women in Sport & Physical Activity Journal, 15(4) , 8-20.

Racial Representations of Women’s and Men’s Intercollegiate Basketball Coverage on ESPN.com. Prior research has shown that racial ideologies exist within traditional media (i.e., newspaper, media guides, television). Through these different channels, Black athletes are often praised for their physical attributes while White athletes are credited for their cognitive abilities (McCarthy, Jones, & Potrac, 2003). This phenomenon of athletic superiority and intellectual inferiority of Black athletes has been coined as "race logic" (Coakley, 2007; Hodge, Burden, Robinson, & Harrison, 2006). Race logic is well documented in different forms of media but no research has explored the phenomenon via the Internet. The purpose of this study was to benchmark media coverage of women’s and men’s intercollegiate basketball on the Internet. The research question guiding this study examines whether or not race logic is challenged or perpetuated in online photograph representations on ESPN.com’s women’s and men’s collegiate basketball Web sites. Feature photographs (N=336) for the 2006-07 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball season were collected on ESPN.com and quantitative content analysis was employed. Results indicated when athlete(s) were pictured homogenously (only Black or only White), Black athlete(s) were five times more likely to be portrayed in photographs compared to White athletes, regardless of sex.

Jordan, T. T., Maxwell, H. D., & LaVoi, N. M. (2008). Racial Representations of Women’s and Men’s Intercollegiate Basketball Coverage on ESPN.com. 2008 McNair Scholar Poster Session, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.

[click here to download poster]

Phase 2 of this research including the 2009-2009 season will be presented in May 2009.

Jordan, T. T., Maxwell, H. D., & LaVoi, N. M. (2009). Racial Representations of Women’s and Men’s Intercollegiate Basketball Coverage on ESPN.com. North American Society of Sport Management Conference, Columbia, South Carolina.

Youth Sport, Physical Activity, and Recreation and Their Special Impact on Girls

To examine how physical activity contexts impact girls and women

Reducing Physical Inactivity and Promoting Healthy: Living: From the Voices of East African Girls. Nearly two-thirds of adolescents do not meet the Surgeon General’s recommendations for daily physical activity. Ethnic minority girls are the least active adolescent population and therefore fail to accrue developmental and health benefits, and are at risk for obesity and other chronic diseases associated with inactivity. There is scarce research about the beliefs, needs, desires, and barriers related to the physical activity (PA) of East African adolescent girls—a prevalent and growing population in Twin Cities Metro Area (TCMA)(Minnesota Department of Health Refugee Health Program, 2009). Felton et al. (2005) and others (see The 2007 Tucker Center Research Report) suggest  it is essential to ask girls about their wants and needs in physical activity programming is essential. Chelsey Rodd, Dr. Nicole LaVoi (3/23/2009).

Click Here to Download Poster

The 2007 Tucker Center Research Report, Developing Physically Active Girls: An Evidence-based Multidisciplinary Approach is the 10-year update of the very popular Physical Activity & Sport in the Lives of Girls: Physical & Mental Health Dimensions from an Interdisciplinary Approach which was produced in collaboration with the President’s Council on Physical Fitness & Sport in 1997. The new report features updated chapters which summarize research on the psychological, sociological, and physiological and metabolic dimensions of girls’ participation in physical activity. The report also includes an important extension from the original—a “Best Practices” chapter which synthesizes research from the author chapters and integrates some of the best practices, approaches, and programs that are presently helping increase physical activity for girls. Contributors to the report include: Dr. Nicole LaVoi & Dr. Mary Jo Kane (Project Directors) and Dr. Diane Wiese-Bjornstal (University of Minnesota); Dr. Margaret Carlisle Duncan (University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin); Dr. Barbara Ainsworth (Arizona State University - Polytechnic Campus); Dr. Jeanne Nichols (San Diego State University); and Dr. Kelley Pettee (Arizona State University). [click here to download report]

Background Anger: Does Gender of Youth Athlete Influence Vulnerability? Unarguably the behavior of some coaches and sport parents is undesirable. Given the prominence and value of sports in the lives of many children and their families, this line of research maps background anger onto the context of youth sports. Background anger involves an angry verbal, nonverbal, or physical interaction between two or more people that does not directly involve the observer  (Cummings, 1987). Our evidence documents that coaches, parents, and children frequently observe and experience background anger in some youth sport environments (e.g., yelling at the ref, coaching from the sidelines, embarrassing behavior, yelling child's teammates, yelling at or fighting with other adults), yet little is known about the influence of background anger on the attrition, sport experience, performance and psychological health of children and youth— and particularly girls. Currently we are examining age and gender differences in the magnitude of associations between background anger and youth athletes’ psycho-social and physiological outcomes. Dr. Nicole LaVoi (PI), Jens Omli

Omli, J., & LaVoi, N.M. (in press). The perfect storm: Background anger in youth sports. Journal of Sport Behavior.

The Relationship Between Perceived Parent-Created Sport Climate and Competitive Youth Male Hockey Players’ Good and Poor Sport Behaviors. The aim of this study is to examine achievement goal orientation (Duda & Nicholls, 1992), parental influence (Babkes & Weiss, 1999) and the parent initiated motivational climate (White, 1996; 1998) in combination to broaden understanding of competitive male youth hockey players (N = 279) perceptions of the parent-created sport climate and its relationship to their self-reported good and poor sport behaviors (GPSB). Exploratory factor analysis revealed a multidimensional measure of GPSB. Multiple regression analyses indicated that athletes’ GPSB were significantly predicted by different forms of parental influence. Canonical correlations revealed a complex picture of the contributions of goal orientation and the parent-created sport climate on boys’ GPSB in youth hockey. Results expand knowledge of the influence that parents have in youth sport and emphasize the importance of understanding how children’s interpretations of parental beliefs and behaviors affect their choices to engage in good and poor sport behaviors. Analysis of data from youth girls’ hockey is currently underway to examine and compare how parents influence their sons’ and daughters’ good and poor sport behaviors.

LaVoi, N.M., & Babkes Stellino, M. (2008). The Influence of Perceived Parent Created Sport Climate on Competitive Youth Male Hockey Players’ Good and Poor Sport Behaviors. Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary & Applied, 142(5),  471-495.

Positive Youth Development and The First Tee

Longitudinal studies are needed to document the impact of organized programs on positive youth development. This project evaluates the effectiveness of The First Tee in achieving its goal of teaching participants life skills (e.g., emotion management, goal setting, resisting peer pressure for high-risk behaviors) that can be transferred to multiple domains (e.g., school, home, out-of-school time activities, job) as well as promoting positive developmental outcomes such as confidence, character, judgment, and perseverance. Our main purposes are to: (a) determine participation retention rates over time, (b) assess retention of life skills knowledge and transfer over time using in-depth surveys, and (c) assess retention of life skills transfer, general life skills usage, and developmental outcomes over time using quantitative responses. We are now entering our fourth year of data collection to document longitudinal effects of The First Tee life skills programs on positive youth development. The study is funded by Philip Morris USA Youth Smoking Prevention Programs.  Dr. Maureen Weiss, Jennifer Bhalla, Melissa Price, Nicole Bolter.  Click here for more information.

Sport Consumer Psychology

To provide applications for marketers of women’s sports at collegiate and professional levels

A Comparison of Motives: Women's and Men's Ice Hockey Fans. The purpose of this study is to investigate and compare the motives of sport fans who attend women's and men's intercollegiate Division I ice hockey games. A dearth of research exists examining the motivations of women's sport fans and studies examining the motivations of women's ice hockey fans is non-existent. Results from this study will inform sport marketers of the salient motives to apply in marketing plans, ultimately leading to increased attendance at women's ice hockey games. Heather Maxwell (PI), Nicole LaVoi, Kim Resheske, Katie Anderson, Erin Becker

To read more about the preliminary results click here.

A Comparison of Motives: WNBA Fans versus Elite Division I Women’s Basketball Fans. The purpose of this study is to examine fans motives to attend WNBA and elite Division I women’s intercollegiate basketball games. As research investigating sport consumer motivation evolves, studies focused specifically on sport consumer motives for fans of women’s athletics at any level are scarce. Previous research has identified fan support for; competitive opportunities for women in sport, athletes as role models, a traditional style of play, wholesome environment, and the entertainment value of games as important motives for attending WNBA games. Emerging patterns of motives provide evidence for a potential shift from hedonic motives (e.g., provides personal pleasure) traditionally found with fans of men’s sports, to more utilitarian motives (e.g., provides a useful function or purpose) by fans of women’s sports. Heather Maxwell (PI).

The Influence of Gender on Sponsorship Recognition. This project group examines sponsorship recognition across gender as they relate to official sponsors of collegiate and professional sports teams. Previous research has shown a number of differences existing between males and females in regard to their intellectual capabilities and information processing techniques. Due to these important gender differences, it is necessary to understand if males and females react differently to various forms of marketing communications. Results indicate significantly more females correctly identified a greater percentage of official sponsors than males. In addition, male and female recognition differed across official sponsor product categories. Dr. Stephen D. Ross (PI), Heather Maxwell, Patrick Walsh.

Title IX and Gender Equity

To examine developments relative to Title IX and gender equity

Deliberative Democracy and the Secretary of Education’s Commission on Opportunity in Athletics. On the 30th anniversary of Title IX, the Secretary of Education established a “milestone” Commission on Opportunity in Athletics. The Commission was mandated to examine ways to strengthen enforcement of the law and expand opportunities to ensure fairness for all college and high school athletes. Based on public opinions heard at four different Town Hall meetings, the Commission developed a report that recommended revisions of Title IX standards. Our examination of the Commission will review its legitimacy in terms of realizing ideals of a deliberative democratic process. Deliberative democratic principles suggest that in legitimate policy making procedures require that citizen deliberations meet a set of procedural conditions, which minimally include communicative competence, reciprocity and inclusiveness (Cohen, 1989;  Gutman & Thompson, 1996), and a willingness to be persuaded to have ones preformed preferences transformed in the face of better argument, and thus to set aside strategic concerns and behavior in the pursuit of these preferences (Dryzek, 2000). Furthermore, policy decisions should be underpinned by the principles of sound argumentation (Habermas, 1975). The deliberative context of the commission will be viewed through the three lenses; 1) the representative nature of the commission hearings and town hall meetings 2) the quality of deliberations in terms of the focus of discussions and procedural influences, and 3) impact the commission recommendations had upon changes in public policy. The outcomes of this study will have implications on how citizens communicatively generate power in counteracting administratively employed power in formal legislative decisions. Additionally, this information will assist the public to gain a better understanding of and realization of gender equity in intercollegiate and interscholastic athletics. Dr. Lisa Kihl (PI), Libby Sharrow, Matthew Soroka

Click here to read the 2007 North American Society for Sport Management abstract of "'Open to All' and 'Closed to Many': Legitimacy of the Secretary of Education's Commission on Opportunity in Athletics."

Gender Equity of Women in Positions Power Within Olympic Sports: A Comparative Study. Few women world-wide hold national or international level appointments in sport management (Acosta & Carpenter, 2006; Cameron, 1996; McKay, Messner, & Sabo, 2000; Thompson, 1990) due to “assumptions about appropriate leadership characteristics, the organizational environment, and reward practices” (Shaw & Hoeber, 2003, p.348). Having women actively involved in sport management and represented in decision-making within sporting organizations goes beyond any issue of gender balance or quota setting. Rather, it is a matter of increasing diversity and, thereby, the quality of considerations and decision-making (Singh, Vinnicombe, & Terjesen, 2007). Research (Eagly & Johannesen-Schmidt, 2007) and practice suggest that, on the whole, women are credited with bringing styles weighted towards collegiality, compassion and relationship building and less towards hierarchy, roles and power and as such this can assist with overall organizational climate and culture and aid in the quality of considerations and outcomes. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has, as one of its core objectives, the issue of gender balance in Olympic sports. The IOC has for some time expressed concern at the level of women’s involvement in decision-making roles within member sports organizations and has a commitment to achieve a 20% participation rate of women in decision-making positions in national and international sports organizations. The IOC believes that unless women are in leadership positions at a national level, there is little chance that they will contribute at an international level. The research objective was to ascertain the extent of involvement of women in leadership and decision-making positions in Olympic sport in New Zealand and the United States—including policy-making, management and national coaching roles. A web search and a telephone survey, of 47 Olympic and Commonwealth sports was carried out between March - June 2007 in New Zealand. This research is being replicated during October- December 2007 in the United States. Dr. Sarah Leberman (Massey University, New Zealand), Visiting Fulbright Senior Scholar in the Tucker Center October 2007-January 2008.

The Legitimacy of the "Secretary's Commission on Opportunity in Athletics" as a Deliberative Democracy Process. In 2002, the former Secretary of Education established a “milestone” commission to examine ways to strengthen enforcement of Title IX law and expand opportunities to ensure fairness for all college and high-school athletes (http://www.edgov.edu/). Four town hall meetings were held where “expert” opinions from invited speakers and testimonies from the public were heard about the issues pertaining to Title IX’s application and effect on equal opportunity. Subsequently, the Open to All: Title IX at Thirty report was released, which provided findings and recommendations for “improving the enforcement of Title IX” (Secretary’s Commission on Opportunity in Athletics, 2003). A minority report was also released by two Commission members, as they were dubious about the process and outcome of the Commission. Whilst the co-chairs of the Commission characterized the procedures as “open, fair, and inclusive,” the overall credibility of the Commission was questioned by various critics and participants in term of representation and procedural fairness (Rosenthal, Morris, & Martinez, 2004; Staurowsky, 2003). Although Commissions are an important means for gaining citizen input about state issues, little is known about how this type of public deliberative process realizes deliberative democratic principles. The purpose of this study was to examine the legitimacy of Commissions as a deliberative democratic process through the examination of the Secretary of Education’s Commission on Opportunity in Athletics. The following research questions guided the study: 1) What were selection criteria for individuals to participate in the Commission? 2) How did communicative competence impact deliberations? 3) How did procedure impact the quality of deliberations? and 4) How did procedure impact the credibility of the Commission? Dr. Lisa Kihl (PI), Matt Soroka [Click Here to Download Executive Summary]

Factors Influencing Bone Health of Female Athletes

Affiliated Scholar Dr. Moira Petit, Director of the Laboratory of Musculoskeletal Health, and her graduate students are conducting a series of studies examining various components of bone health involving female athletes including:

1. The role of bone health and muscle fatigue on stress fractures. Kristy Popp
2. The role of hormones and physical activity on the bone and muscle health of female runners diagnosed with amenorrhea. Amanda Thieschafer

Women and Coaching

Where Have All the Post-Title IX Mothers Gone?: Exploring the Scarcity of Female Coaches in Youth Sport. PHASE I: A large majority of youth sport coaches are parent-volunteers with little-to-no coaching experience, and variant levels of playing experience. It is estimated that less than 10% of youth sport coaches are female, and this number over the last decade has counterintuitively decreased (Messner, 2006). The scarcity of female coaches at all levels of sport is well documented, but little research has examined this phenomena at the youth level. Given that female participation in sports across competitive level has reached an all time high (Ascota & Carpenter, 2006; NFHS, 2006), it is disconcerting that more females are not entering the ranks of youth sport coaching. The lack of coaches includes former female collegiate athletes who clearly have vast experiences and expertise to offer youth athletes but are failing to enter the coaching ranks in proportion to their sport participation numbers. When females are involved in youth sport, it is in primarily gendered ways—with males predominately in coaching positions and females in 'helping" positions such as ‘Team Mom’ (Chaftez & Kotarba, 1999; Messner, 2006; Thompson, 1999). While the gendered division of labor in youth sports is documented, rarely have mother-former collegiate athletes been asked directly about their choices and negotiations in arriving at the decision to coach or not to coach at the youth level. Challenges, barriers and negotiations women face when deciding to coach, or not to coach, their children are discussed.

LaVoi, N.M., & Becker, E. (2007). Where Have All the Post-Title IX Mothers Gone?: Exploring the Scarcity of Female Coaches in Youth Sport. Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) Conference in Louisville, KY. (poster session)

Click Here to Download Poster

Coaching Moms: Studies of Commitment and Cognitive Acrobatics. Most previous research on women and coaching has focused women who are in—or have left—coaching at the elite or NCAA levels. Mothers have strong influence on children as role models yet the impact of the mother-coach role remains unexamined. What is known is that male coaches are often perceived to be better coaches than females which may be reflective of the lack of female coach role models. In the absence of female coaches and role models, female athletes may devalue their own abilities, accept negative stereotypes, fail to realize their potential, or consider coaching as a viable career path. It is important for children to see and experience mothers in a wide variety of roles, especially in contexts associated with hegemonic masculinity and power such as sport. Women’s visibility in such positions may help to create social change, challenge the social constructions of gender, as well as expand possibilities for how to interact and relate to women in positions of power. Research on mothers in sport has focused on parental impact (Babkes & Weiss, 1999; Stein et al., 1999, Wuerth et at., 2004), the gendered division of labor of mothers’ “work” in youth sports (Chaftez & Kotarba, 1999; Messner, 2006; Thompson, 1999) as well as negotiating the work-family nexus in coaching (Dixon & Bruening, 2007) and sport in general (Dixon & Bruening, 2005). Phase 2 of this research focuses on volunteer soccer coaches who are mothers and seeks to identify what factors facilitate and inhibit mothers from coaching at the entry level. The participants will be representative of four different groups: mothers who were college athletes and coach; mothers who were college athletes and do not coach; mothers who weren’t college athletes and coach and mothers who weren’t college athletes and don’t coach. This research will explore mothers’ sport history, how and why they started or did not start coaching, the costs/barriers and benefits associated with coaching, the impact of coaching on their family, and how these women negotiate their varied identities as mothers, coaches and workers (if they work). The findings will provide a better understanding of the factors that facilitate and inhibit mothers from coaching. Links to the concept of sport commitment and extending the literature around the mother-worker identify will also be explored. The research will also provide a basis for the development of programs to encourage more mothers into coaching and an exploration of coaching pathways. Dr. Nicole LaVoi & Dr. Sarah Leberman (Visiting Fulbright Senior Scholar from Massey University, New Zealand).

• Mother-Coach Generated Strategies for Increasing Female Coaches in Youth Sport

Past Projects

Click here to see some of our past projects.