Testing the team identification-social psychological health model: examining non-marquee sports, seasonal differences, and multiple teams.

Wann, Daniel L. ; Keenan, Brian ; Page, Leslie 等

Within the last decade or so, the field of psychology has begun to experience a paradigm shift. This new vision, referred to as positive psychology, reflects the belief that the field of psychology has devoted too much empirical and theoretical effort toward understanding human maladjustments and shortcomings while investing too little time in understanding the positive aspects of the human experience, such as happiness and mental well-being (see Diener, Suh, Lucas, & Smith, 1999; Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000; Snyder & Lopez, 2001). This tendency to focus primarily on the darker sides of human existence also is reflected in the social scientific inquiry of sport fandom and spectating. Historically, investigators have spent a majority of their efforts researching the negative aspects of this pastime, choosing to focus on such topics as spectator violence, the poor interpersonal relationships of sport fans, and how sport can serve as an opiate to the masses (many of these attacks against fans have little empirical support, see Wann, Melnick, Russell, & Pease, 2001, for a review).

However, consistent with the positive psychology movement found in general psychology, sport scientists have recently begun to explore the positive side of sport fandom as well. One such line of research has investigated the relationship between sport fandom and psychological well-being. Research on this relationship has taken two directions. First, research indicates that fans may improve their self-concept (i.e., well-being) by basking in the reflected glory of a sport team's successes (Boen, Vanbeselaere, & Feys, 2002; Cialdini et al., 1976; Dalakas, Madrigal, & Anderson, 2004). Indeed, many fans choose to follow historically successful teams to have easier access to this route to enhanced well-being (End, Dietz-Uhler, Harrick, & Jacquemotte, 2002).

The focus of the current investigation concerns a second route to enhanced well-being through sport fandom. This path involves one's level of team identification. Team identification is defined as the extent to which a fan feels a psychological connection to his or her team (Wann & Branscombe, 1993; Wann et al., 2001). When individuals feel a strong sense of attachment to a group, they experience enhanced well-being because their association with the group leads to a sense of belongingness with others and a connection to society (Gibson, Willming, & Holdnak, 2002; Mael & Ashforth, 2001). Thus, this route to well-being is not dependent upon group or team success. Rather, individuals may gain a sense of belonging (and hence, well-being) simply through their group memberships. Recent work has confirmed this pattern of effects with sport fans and their sense of identification with their team. Specifically, high levels of identification with a local team have been found to be related to higher levels of personal and collective self-esteem, vigor, positive emotions, social life satisfaction, openness, and extroversion, and lower levels of depression, alienation, loneliness, and negative emotions (Branscombe &Wann, 1991; Lanter & Blackburn, 2004; Wann, 1994; Wann, 2006b; Wann, Dimmock, & Grove, 2003; Wann, Dunham, Byrd, & Keenan, 2004; Wann, Inman, Ensor, Gates, & Caldwell, 1999; Wann & Pierce, 2005; Wann, Walker, Cygan, Kawase, & Ryan, 2005).

Wann (2006a) recently developed a theoretical model to account for the aforementioned effects. This model, termed the Team Identification--Social Psychological Health Model, proposes that team identification facilitates well-being by increasing social connections for the fan. That is, by identifying with a team, a fan gains additional associations with others, connections that can be important in facilitating psychological well-being (Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Linville, 1987). According to the model, two different forms of social connections can be acquired through sport team identification: enduring and temporary. Enduring social connections occur when a fan resides in an environment in which other fans of the team are easily identifiable, such as when someone supports a hometown (i.e., local) team. Temporary social connections involve situations in which the fan does not live in an enduring environment (e.g., displaced fans supporting distant teams), but connections to other fans of the team are rendered temporarily salient (such as when one attends a party frequented by similarly displaced fans of a given team). The model contends further that the relationship between identification (and the subsequent enduring and temporary social connections) and well-being is mediated by threats to social identity (e.g., poor team performance) and efforts to cope with threats. The social connections resulting from team identification are expected to impact both state (via increases in temporary social connections) and trait well-being (via enduring connections). Finally, because research indicates that group and team identification are more closely related to social well-being than personal well-being (Rubin & Hewstone, 1998; Wann et al., 2003), temporary and enduring social connections are predicted to have their greatest impact on social psychological health.

As noted, research is quite supportive of Wann's (2006a) model. For instance, although identification with a local team is positively associated with social psychological well-being (Branscombe & Wann, 1991; Wann et al., 2005), researchers have failed to find a relationship between well-being and identification with distant teams or sport fandom per se (Wann et al., 2004; Wann et al., 1999; Wann& Pierce, 2005). Theoretically, this pattern of effects would be expected because mere sport fandom and identifying with distant teams should not readily lead to social connections (unless, in the case with distant teams, temporary connections are made salient). However, while past work has substantiated the model, there are still many unanswered questions regarding the identification--well-being relationship.

First, Wann (2006b) noted that the past research had examined identifications with popular and prominent local teams, such as a local university's men's basketball team (e.g., Branscombe &Wann, 1991; Wann& Pierce, 2005). Investigators had yet to examine the relationship between identification with less popular, non-revenue generating teams and well-being. According to the Team Identification--Social Psychological Health Model, a team's popularity should not impact one's ability to gain well-being effects through the team. Rather, the model would predict that identification with less popular teams and psychological health will be positively related as long as societal connections can be generated through associations with the team and these associations are apparent to the fans. Thus, it was hypothesized that the positive correlation between team identification and well-being found for "marquee" sports would be replicated for non-revenue generating sports that also lead to enduring connections.

Second, according to Wann's (2006a) model, team identification facilitates social well-being by leading to enduring and/or temporary social connections. If this is indeed the case, one would expect that the timing of assessments of identification and well-being, that is, in-season or off-season, to have little impact on the relationship. For instance, imagine a fan who is a supporter of her university's football team. By living in the university community, other supporters of this team are readily available whether the team is in-season or not. Similarly, fans of professional sport teams such as the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Lakers living in their respective cities find themselves immersed in a group of fellow fans year round (e.g., Red Sox fans residing in Boston can be found wearing Red Sox apparel, discussing the team, etc.). Thus, enduring social connections to others should be readily available and salient regardless of the season. Consequently, positive relationships should be found between identification with a local team and social well-being whether the team is playing or not. Such a pattern of effects was the focus of Hypothesis 2.

Third, it is clear that sport fans often maintain allegiances to many different teams (Giulianotti, 2002). Knowing that high levels of identification with a team can facilitate well-being, Wann (2006b) wondered what happens in situations in which a fan has high levels of identification with multiple teams. Is identification with one team sufficient for generating the greatest effect or, rather, do fans with multiple identifications (and the corresponding multiple social connections) enjoy even greater well-being benefits? Researchers in social psychology have examined the relationship between multiple group memberships and well-being. For instance, Wann and Hamlet (1994) found that individuals with a strong desire to join and maintain memberships in diverse groups (referred to as "joiners") report positive patterns of psychological well-being (see also Wann & Ensor, 2001; Wann & Hamlet, 1996). Further, Roccas and Brewer (2002) noted that high levels of social identity complexity (i.e., perceived overlap between one's group memberships) are related to more successful coping with threats to social identity. In fact, these authors state that, "members of a discriminated group can enhance their self-esteem by identifying with a successful sports team" (p. 104). Applying the aforementioned work to the relationship between sport team identification and well-being, one could predict that identifying with multiple teams to be even more advantageous than forming a strong attachment to a single team. However, simply having associations with a variety of groups will not be enough to garner the well-being benefits of group membership. For example, in the Wann and Hamlet (1994) work, although there was a positive relationship between tendencies to be a joiner and well-being, raw numbers of group memberships were not related to psychological health. Wright and Forsyth (1997) report a similar finding, concluding that, "Memberships in many groups, per se, was not related to self-esteem" (p. 48). Rather, the group membership needed to be satisfying to the individual (or prestigious) for the effect to occur. Thus, simply being a casual fan of multiple teams should not be beneficial. One would need to be a highly identified fan of each team. Because the logic employed here is somewhat speculative and Wann's (2006a) Team Identification--Social Psychological Health Model does not address this issue, there were no hypotheses offered with respect to the relationship between high levels of identification with multiple teams and well-being. Rather, this topic was examined within the framework of a research question.

Therefore, this research examined the following hypotheses and research questions:

Hypothesis 1: Consistent with research on "marquee" sports, there will be a positive correlation between team identification and social psychological well-being for non-revenue generating sports that lead to enduring connections.

Hypothesis 2: There will be positive relationships between identification with a local team and social well-being both in season and out of season.

Research Question l: Do persons with high levels of identification with multiple local teams report more positive social well-being than those with high levels of identification with only a single team?

The Current Investigation and Data Analyses

The aforementioned hypotheses and research question were examined by assessing the team identification--well-being relationship for fans of a college football team and a college baseball team at a university where the men's basketball team has historically been the preeminent team (i.e., the basketball team was a revenue sport while the other two were not) (1). Hypothesis 1 was tested simply by examining correlations among the variables for the lesser teams. Hypothesis 2 was investigated by comparing correlations between identification and well-being during the season with data acquired during the off-season. Research question l was examined by categorizing participants into three groups: those with high levels of identification with neither team, those with high levels of identification with l team (either baseball or football), and those with high levels of identification with both teams, and then comparing the psychological well-being of persons in the three groups.

Method

Participants

Participants were 272 university students. One hundred and seventy-six of the participants (55 male, 121 female; M age = 20.52, SD = 3.71) were tested during the fall semester (i.e., in-season for the university's football team and off-season for the university's baseball team) while 96 respondents (49 male, 47 female; Mage = 22.26, SD = 4.94) participated during the spring semester (i.e., off-season for the university's football team and in-season for the university's baseball team).

Procedure

Upon entering the testing room and providing their consent to participate, participants (tested in small groups) were asked to complete a questionnaire packet (questionnaires contained in the packet are described below). The packets were coded to indicate whether the participant was tested during the fall or spring semester. After the participants had completed the questionnaire packet, they returned it to the researcher who handed them a debriefing statement. This statement disclosed the purpose and hypotheses of the study and contained information on contacting the author for a report of the research. Once each participant had received the debriefing statement, the participants were excused from the testing session. The sessions lasted approximately 15 minutes.

Materials

The questionnaire packet contained three sections. The first section contained demographic items assessing age and gender. The second section contained two versions of the Sport Spectator Identification Scale (SSIS; Wann& Branscombe, 1993). The SSIS contains seven Likert-scale items assessing identification with a sport team. Response options to the SSIS ranged from 1 (low identification) to 8 (high identification). A sample item from the SSIS reads, "How important to you is it that (target team) wins?" Wann and Branscombe present data indicating that the SSIS is a highly reliable and valid instrument (Wann et al., 2001). Subjects targeted their university's baseball team and their university's football team when completing the two versions of the SSIS.

The third section contained two reliable and valid instruments designed to assess social psychological health: the 16-item Collective Self-esteem Scale (Luhtanen & Crocker, 1991) and the 20-item UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russell, Peplau, & Cutrona, 1980). These measures were scored so that higher numbers reflected better psychological health (i.e., higher levels of collective self-esteem and lower levels of loneliness). These two measures were selected for three reasons. First, these measures had been successfully used in past research examining the psychological health of sport fans (e.g., Wann, 2006b; Wann et al., 2003; Wann,& Pierce, 2005). Second, these scales assess components of social well-being. For example, operational definitions of social well-being (Keys & Lopez, 2001; Luhtanen & Crocker, 1991; Russell, Cutrona, Rose, & Yurko, 1984) have included social integration (e.g., loneliness, belonging, a sense of community) and social (i.e., collective) self-esteem as components of social well-being. As noted by Wann (2006a) and others (e.g., Rubin & Hewstone, 1998; Wann et al., 2003), group memberships and associations with sport teams should be more closely related to social well-being than personal well-being, and thus, research in this area should employ measures of social psychological health. And third, these measures assess trait levels of well-being (rather than state). Because we were interested in the consequences of enduring (i.e., chronic) social connections, assessments of trait well-being were more appropriate (Warm, 2006a).

Results

Responses to the collective self-esteem scale and the loneliness inventory were correlated (r = .54, p < .01). Thus, scores on these scales were converted to z scores and combined to form a single index of social psychological health (i.e., social psychological health index = collective self-esteem scale z score + loneliness inventory z score). Hypothesis 1 (there would be a positive relationship between team identification and social psychological health for non-revenue sports) and Hypothesis 2 (the positive relationship would be found during the season and during the off-season) were examined using Pearson correlations computed between the variables of interest. These analyses revealed support for Hypothesis 1 as both level of identification with the football team (in-season r =. 15, [r.sup.2] = .02; off-season r =. 18, [r.sup.2] = .03) and identification with the baseball team (in-season r =. 19, [r.sup.2] = .04; off-season r =. 19, [r.sup.2]= .04) were positively and significantly correlated (all p's < .05; Cohen's d's ranged from .30 to .39). In support of Hypothesis 2, comparisons of the coefficients for in-season and off-season failed to reveal a significant difference by season (all z's < 1.00, all p's >. 10). Thus, all subsequent analyses were conducted across season (combining the in-season and off-season data resulted in r =. 16 for football ([r.sup.2] = .03) and r =. 19 for baseball ([r.sup.2]= .04) (both p's < .01).

To examine Research Question 1, participants' scores on both versions of the SSIS were used to establish three groups: not highly identified with either team (LOW BOTH), highly identified with only one team (HIGH ONE), and highly identified with both teams (HIGH BOTH). Participants scoring at least 32 on the SSIS (i.e., greater than 4.5 per item and thus, at or above the midpoint on the 1 to 8 scale) were considered to have high levels of identification. This resulted in 205 participants being placed into the LOW BOTH group, 56 were classified as HIGH ONE, and 11 were classified as HIGH BOTH. The mean scores for psychological health were then examined for these groups using a trend analysis. This analysis revealed a linear term (unweighted), F(1, 269) = 4.64,p < .05, [[eta].sup.2] = .02. Participants in the LOW BOTH group had the lowest levels of social psychological health (M = -. 12, SD = 1.80) while the well-being for those in the HIGH ONE was moderately positive (M = .22, SD = 1.60). However, the psychological health of those in the HIGH BOTH group was particularly high (M = 1.05, SD = 1.15). The quadratic term was not significant, F(1,269) = 0.46, p > .40.

Discussion

The data described above provide support for both hypotheses as well as the Team Identification--Social Psychological Health Model (Wann, 2006a). As expected, there was a positive relationship between identification with non-revenue (i.e., non-marquee) local sport teams and social psychological health and these relationships were found both in-season and during the off-season. Although the relationships are modest in size (e.g., r's ranged from. 15. to. 19; [r.sup.2]s ranged from .02 to .04), the magnitude of the effect is similar to previous work investigating the relationship between well-being and other factors, such as income, education, and religiosity (Diener & Clifton, 2002; Diener et al., 1999). Thus, additional factors would be needed to account for the variance not explained by levels of team identification.

With respect to the first hypothesis, it is important to note that the teams examined in the current investigation were not only less marquee than were teams examined in previous efforts, but were less successful as well. For instance, several studies have looked at identification with the men's basketball teams from the University of Kansas and Murray State University. Each of these teams had had a long history of success, particularly in recent years (e.g., each team had won multiple conference regular season and/or tournament titles, had regularly qualified for the NCAA tournament, etc.). Conversely, the baseball and football teams examined in this investigation had not been as successful. In fact, the twelve years prior to this investigation, the baseball team had a combined winning percentage of .428 (247 wins, 330 losses) while the football team's winning percentage was .515 (69 wins, 65 losses). Thus, as suggested by the Team Identification--Psychological Health Model, team success is not necessary for sport fans to gain a sense of well-being through the pastime. Certainly, identifying with successful teams can lead to a positive sense of self as one basks in the team's accomplishments (Cialdini et al., 1976; Dalakas et al., 2004). However, fans also may reach a heightened sense of well-being through a second route as a consequence of the social connections accrued through the associations with other fans. For this route, the team need not be a historically successful one. Rather, fans of teams with long histories of poor performance (e.g., the Chicago Cubs Major League baseball team) also may gain a sense of well-being through their allegiance to the team, provided that they gain social connections through their involvement.

As for the second hypothesis and the lack of difference between the in-season and off-season results, it is important to note that, according to the Team Identification--Social Psychological Health Model (Wann, 2006a), one would not expect to find a significant relationship between team identification and well-being if the identification does not result in increased enduring or temporary social capital. Thus, the significant correlation between identification and well-being during the off-season reported above suggests that, for these fans, the social connections gained via their team support were salient (i.e., easily identifiable) during the off-season as well. Given that the participants were university students tested in a university setting, it is quite likely that their associations with other fans were salient during the off-season. That is, these persons were still able to communicate with other fans, experience camaraderie with them, as so forth, even though the team wasn't playing. Similarly, fans of many professional sport teams really do not experience an "off-season" as a fan. For instance, fans of the St. Louis Cardinals Major League Baseball team who live in or around St. Louis have little difficulty finding other fans, even during the winter months, because the Cardinals remain a frequent topic of conversation for fans and the media alike and fans continue to demonstrate their allegiance to the team by wearing apparel announcing their allegiance. Such is precisely the benefit of residing in a situation characterized by enduring connections (see Wann, 2006a); the connections are readily available and visible simply by being present in the environment. However, in situations where the social connections are rendered non-salient during the off-season, one would not expect a significant relationship between team identification and social psychological health.

With respect to the research question, the data indicated that fans with high levels of identification with two local (and thus, salient) teams reported more positive levels of well-being than persons who were highly identified with only one team. Individuals with low levels of identification with both teams reported the poorest levels of social psychological health. Evidently, the increased social connections gained through multiple allegiances to sport teams lead to even greater well-being benefits.

The finding that fans with multiple team associations (i.e., high levels of identification with both teams) had particularly high levels of social psychological health warrants special discussion. First, it should be noted that this was the first empirical endeavor investigating the impact of multiple team allegiances on fan well-being. Thus, it is important to replicate this effect to ensure its viability. This need for replication is particularly important given that the effect size for this analysis was quite small. Second, although the current data set suggests that there are additional social psychological health advantages to identifying with multiple sport teams, it seems likely that such an additive effect will have a limit. For instance, consider work on the conformity effect. Research in this area suggests that, although group size and amount of conformity are positively correlated, the impact of increased group size reaches a peak at about five persons (Asch, 1956; Gerard, Wilhelmy, & Conolley, 1968; but also see Bond & Smith, 1996). That is, adding additional group members will increase pressures to conform but only up to approximately five individuals, at which point the effect levels off. A similar effect may well be found with multiple sport team allegiances and well-being. For instance, it seems unlikely that having a high level of identification with 14 teams will yield significantly greater well-being benefits compared to "only" identifying with 13 teams. Instead, it seems reasonable to suggest that the benefits gained through multiple sport team allegiances have a limit. Of course, the precise point when this limit is reached is purely speculation at this point. However, such a number could be estimated by testing a large sample from an environment where there are many teams to which one could form an allegiance (e.g., New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles). By examining the relationship between social psychological health and the number of strong allegiances (i.e., the number of teams through which one gains connections to others), one could not only replicate the findings reported here, but also examine any potential limits to the benefits gained through multiple allegiances.

In conclusion, limitations of the current study warrant mention. First, as noted earlier, the effect sizes detected were rather small. Thus, replication of the current effects is warranted to insure their validity. Second, the current research was limited to two different team sports (baseball and football) both of which were at the same level of competition (NCAA Division I). Additional researchers should attempt to replicate the current investigation with other team sports such as basketball and volleyball as well as individual sports (e.g., auto racing, golf) at different levels of competition such as interscholastic and professional. And finally, because the participants targeted only two teams, the ceiling effect for the additive advantages of multiple identifications is not know. As discussed earlier, future endeavors should examine larger numbers of teams to detect possible limits to the additive effect of multiple team identifications.

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Footnotes

(1) Of course, if the team were so unpopular as to have almost no fans, there would be no connections to others to be gained. Although the teams examined in the current investigation were not "marquee" (i.e., revenue generating) sports, they did have a following.

Daniel L. Wann, Brian Keenan, and Leslie Page

Murray State University

Address Correspondence To: Daniel L. Wann, Department of Psychology, Murray State University, Murray, KY 42071, E-mail: dan.wann@murraystate.edu.