Differences in fan-family conflict based on an individual's level of identification with a team.

Simmons, Jason M. ; Greenwell, T. Christopher

In a given day, an individual may identify with a wide variety of roles ranging from parent to employee to student, or even to sport fan. The concept of a role refers to how an individual behaves within a specific context (Biddle, 1979). Demands of each role have the potential to either complement or conflict with each other. The stress an individual might feel due to the pressures of her upcoming presentation at work may distract her from fully functioning in the parental role in the morning. Likewise, the time it takes to watch her team play in the evening may take away from time needed to help her child with her homework. Such interference is known as inter-role conflict, or the difficulty one experiences in balancing his/her various role demands (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985; Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, & Rosenthal, 1964). The current study is concerned with fan-family conflict, a type of inter-role conflict, which refers to the extent to which engagement in the sport fan role interferes with one's ability to fully function within the family role.

At first glance sport spectating may appear to be a harmless hobby. Consuming sport is intended to be fun, an activity in which we participate for leisure. Smith (1988) argued however, the line separating the sport fan role as a healthy habit from an addictive activity is somewhat fuzzy. According to Hunt, Bristol, and Bashaw (1999), one's fandom becomes problematic when fan role demands "interfere with the ability to perform normal role behavior outside of the behavior as a fan" (p. 447). The affective, behavioral, and cognitive responses of sport fans have been studied extensively; however, research investigating the effect of these responses on one's family life, specifically, the extent to which the demands associated with the sport fan role are incompatible with the demands required in the family roles (i.e. spouse, parent, child) has been limited (e.g., Gantz, Wenner, Carrico, & Knorr, 1995a; 1995b; Smith, Patterson, Williams, & Hogg, 1981). Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the effect of team identification on perceptions of time, strain, behavior, and economic-based fan-family conflict.

The Sport Fan Role

To a casual observer, the role of a sport fan appears rather simplistic. Sport fans attend games, watch, listen to, and read about sport content through the media, purchase team-related merchandise, and experience fluctuations in mood as a result of game outcomes. While such a portrayal may be accurate, it is far from complete. As Stewart, Smith, and Nicholson (2003) noted in their comprehensive review of fan typologies, the role of a sport fan "involves far more than simply turning up to a game, tuning in, and going home" (p. 211). Indeed, for highly identified fans, or those who perceive some degree of psychological or emotional attachment to a team, the fan role takes on a much greater meaning (Funk & James, 2001; Hunt et al., 1999; Mahony, Madrigal, & Howard, 2000; Wann, Melnick, Russell, & Pease, 2001).

The fan role can be explained in large part by social identity theory. According to social identity theory, an individual's self-concept is comprised of a personal identity and a social identity (Turner, 1982). Whereas the personal identity reflects attributes, characteristics, and preferences unique to an individual, the social identity consists of social categorizations or groups to which one perceives membership or belonging (Abrams & Hogg, 1990; Tajfel & Turner, 1986; Turner, 1982). Thus, perceived group membership as a fan contributes to one's social identity and overall definition of self. Heere and James (2007) suggested however, only highly salient group memberships will become integrated into one's self-concept. As such, the fan role takes on a greater deal of importance to the social identity and self-concept of highly identified fans (Hunt et al., 1999; Wann et al., 2001).

Team identification refers to an individual's perceived psychological and emotional involvement with a sport organization (Sutton, McDonald, Milne, & Cimperman, 1997; Wann & Branscombe, 1990; Wann et al., 2001). Social identity theory posits group members conform to behaviors consistent with group norms. The extent to which an individual conforms is predicated by his/her degree of identification with the group (Turner, 1982). Therefore, consistent with social identity theory, highly identified fans are more likely to engage in behaviors perceived to be normative of their fan group (i.e. game attendance, merchandise consumption, intergroup comparison).

Inter-Role Conflict

The sport fan role represents but one of many roles within an individual's role set. Biddle (1979) referred to role sets as "a collection of roles" (p. 76). Common roles might include being a parent, spouse, student, employee, or customer (Madsen & Hammond, 2005). Given this wide array of roles, individuals may experience inter-role conflict when attempting to balance their various role demands (Goode, 1960). Researchers have examined inter-role conflict extensively within the context of work and family roles (e.g., Burke, Weir, & DuWors, 1980; Carlson & Kacmar, 2000; Dixon & Bruening, 2005; Frone & Rice, 1987; Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985; Lapierre et al., 2008), and to a lesser extent, leisure and family roles (e.g., Fick, Goff, & Oppliger, 1996; Gillespie, Leffler, & Lerner, 2002; Goff & Fick, 1997; Goff, Fick, & Oppliger, 1997). Like engagement within the work role, participation in serious leisure activities are "time, resource, and ... identity intensive" (Gillespie et al., 2002, p. 286), thus creating an ideal condition for inter-role conflict. Further, Gillespie et al. (2002) contended serious leisure participation has the potential to shape an individual's identity beyond what he/she does for a living.

Types of Inter-Role Conflict

Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) proposed three types of inter-role conflict: time-based, strain-based, and behavior-based. Time-based conflict occurs when the time allocated to one role prohibits an individual from fulfilling the demands of another role (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985; Lapierre et al., 2008). Time is a perishable resource in that time devoted to one role cannot be simultaneously devoted to the demands of another. Prior research supports this proposition suggesting a direct, positive relationship between the amount of time an individual devotes to a role and inter-role conflict (Burke et al., 1980; Carlson & Kacmar, 2000; Dixon & Bruening, 2007; Fick et al., 1996). Strain-based conflict occurs when strain, stress, or anxiety experienced in one role negatively affects One's performance in another role due to a spillover effect (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985). Similar to role time commitments, role strain/stress has been shown to lead to higher levels of inter-role conflict (Carlson & Kacmar, 2000; Kopelman, Greenhaus, & Connolly, 1983; Reinardy, 2007). Role strain variables examined within the work-family conflict literature include intra-role conflict, role overload, role ambiguity, and parental demands (Boyar, Maertz, Mosley, & Carr, 2008; Carlson & Kacmar, 2000; Chiu, 1998; Kopelman et al., 1983). Behavior-based conflict refers to incompatible behavioral expectations from role to role (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985). More specifically, Edwards and Rothbard (2000) defined behavior-based conflict as "a form of spillover in which behavior developed in one domain influences behavior in the other domain, with the added condition that the transferred behavior inhibits role performance in the latter domain" (p. 182).

Within the context of fan-family conflict, highly identified fans devote more time to their team/fan role than fans low in identification (Wann & Branscombe, 1993) and engage in higher levels of support behaviors such as attendance and media consumption which require commitments of one's time (Fisher & Wakefield, 1998; James & Trail, 2008; Matsuoka, Chelladurai, & Harada, 2003; Warm & Branscombe, 1993). To that point, results from the Smith et al. (1981) study indicated the amount of time required to follow one's team was the most frequently cited negative aspect of the sport fan role. Referring to highly identified fans, Smith et al. noted, "They felt that if they put this extra time and effort into their jobs, studies, or family lives [as opposed to their sport fan role] the time would have been spent more productively" (p. 42). More than a quarter of participants in the Smith et al. study indicated their spouses had complained about the amount of time they spent watching sports. Similarly, nearly 35% of males surveyed in the Gantz et al. (1995b) study felt as though their spouses resented them over the amount of televised sport they consumed. These results speak to the notion that sport fans, particularly those high in identification, may experience time-based conflict when attempting to balance the demands of their fan and family roles. Therefore, it was hypothesized that:

H1: Highly identified fans will experience significantly higher levels of time-based fan-family conflict than lesser identified fans.

Sports fans also experience role strain/stress which may interfere with family role functioning. The tendency for highly identified fans to maintain/enhance their social identity through in-group/out-group comparisons or success/failure attributions, for example, suggests some degree of strain associated with the sport fan role (Dimmock, Grove, & Eklund, 2005; Mann, 1974; Wann & Branscombe, 1995; Wann & Dolan, 1994a; 1994b; Warm & Schrader, 2000; Wann et al., 2006). Fans, particularly those high in identification, also experience fluctuations in mood states as a result of team losses (Hirt, Zillman, Erickson, & Kennedy, 1992; Smith et al., 1981). More recently, Hillman et al. (2000) found significant differences in the emotional responses of highly identified fans between team-relevant and team-irrelevant pictures. Specifically, highly identified fans of the University of Florida football team reported greater subjective arousal, showed smaller startle responses (indicative of intense engagement), and exhibited decelerated heart rates for team-relevant pictures only. The same effect was not found among fans low in identification. Such affective and behavioral responses suggest sport fans experience strain/stress deriving from their role as a fan. It was therefore hypothesized that:

H2: Highly identified fans will experience significantly higher levels of strain-based fan-family conflict than lesser identified fans.

In terms of behavior-based conflict, Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) proposed that within work and family roles, managerial characteristics such as self-reliance, emotional stability, and aggressiveness might be incompatible with family role behavioral expectations. Applying this logic to fan-family conflict, problem fan behaviors such as aggression, blasting, racism, and hooliganism are likely inappropriate for the family role. According to Hunt et al.'s (1999) classification of sport fans, such behaviors are characteristic of a dysfunctional fan. For a dysfunctional fan, the fan role represents the foundation of self-definition. "The dysfunctional fan will readily engage in violent or other disruptive behavior under the pretext that this behavior is somewhat justified because of being a fan" (Hunt et al., 1999, p. 447).

This is not to suggest that all highly identified fans are dysfunctional. Wakefield and Wann (2006) made the important distinction between highly identified fans with low dysfunction and highly identified fans with high dysfunction, noting those with higher dysfunction are more likely to verbally abuse game officials, consume alcoholic beverages during sporting events, and attend away games where confrontations are more likely to occur. Results from this study suggested high levels of team identification alone do not explain aggressive tendencies and dysfunctional fan behaviors, but rather some underlying anti-social personality characteristic.

Others, however, have found a relationship between identification and problem behaviors such as fan aggression. Wann, Carlson, and Schrader (1999) reported significantly higher levels of both hostile and instrumental aggression among highly identified fans compared to lesser-identified individuals. Similarly, highly identified fans in the Dimmock and Grove (2005) study reported significantly less behavioral control at games than fans low in identification. These findings may be explained by Wann's (1993) assertion that highly identified fans turn to aggressive tendencies (e.g. blasting) as a method of enhancing their social identity following team defeats. Whereas distancing oneself from the team (CORFing) is not an option for highly identified fans, hostility directed towards other fans, teams, or game officials, may have identity enhancing potential. The potential for behavior-based conflict occurs when comparing the fan behaviors described above with those typically associated with membership in the family role, which Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) characterized a "warm, nurturant, emotional, and vulnerable" (p. 82). In line with this argument, hypothesis number 3 stated:

H3: Highly identified fans will experience significantly higher levels of behavior-based fan-family conflict than lesser identified fans.

Beyond time, strain, and behavior-based conflict, the current study also examined a fourth type of inter-role conflict, economic-based fan-family conflict, defined as perceived difficulty fulfilling financial obligations in the family role due to the amount of money spent in the fan role. Unlike work, engagement in the sport fan role is an economic activity. Downs and Woolrych (2010) described an economic activity as one which "requires the use of money in order to participate" (p. 313). As is the case with other economic activities such as going to the movies, gambling, or going out to dinner, the behavioral demands associated with the sport fan role (i.e. attendance, merchandise/media consumption) require a financial commitment on the part of the fan.

Research has shown, when compared to fans low in identification, highly identified fans attend more games, devote greater dollar amounts to the team, and consume higher levels of team-related media and merchandise (Fisher & Wakefield, 1998; James & Trail, 2008; Kwon & Armstrong, 2002; Warm & Branscombe, 1993). Further, the work of Abbot, Cramer, and Sherrets (1995); Downs and Woolrych (2010); and Wenzel, Oren, and Bakken (2008), provides empirical evidence to suggest excessive spending in one role can hinder one's ability to meet financial demands within the family role, and potentially lead to health and family complications. Money, like time, is a perishable resource. Therefore, the fourth and final hypothesis stated:

H4: Highly identified fans will experience significantly higher levels of economic-based fan-family conflict than lesser identified fans.

Method

Participants

Data were collected from fans in attendance at an NCAA Division-I intercollegiate football game located in large, Midwestern City. The sample consisted of 296 males (63.5%) and 160 females (34.3%). Ten participants (2.1%) did not indicate their gender. With respect to age, 82.4% of respondents (n = 379) were 25 years of age or older. The frequency distribution of marital status indicated 297 participants (63.7%) were either married or with a partner, while 127 (27.3%) reported being single. Forty-seven percent of respondents (n = 212) indicated having at least one child living at home. On average, respondents indicated spending 6.41 hours per week watching/reading about the home football team. More than a third of respondents (n = 179, 39.8%) reported spending less than $250 per year on the home football team. Only 9 participants (2%) indicated spending more than $5,000 per year on the home football team.

Instruments

An adapted version of Carlson, Kacmar, and Williams' (2000) work-family conflict scale was utilized to measure fan-family conflict. A number of researchers have employed this scale to measure work-family conflict (e.g., Boyar et al., 2008; Carlson, Grzywacz, & Zivnuska, 2009; Halbesleben, Harvey, & Bolino, 2009; Lapierre et al., 2008), supporting the reliability and validity of the instrument. Work-family conflict scales have been adapted previously for use in arenas outside work and family domains. Fick et al. (1996) and Goffet al. (1997), for example, adapted items from Kopelman et al.'s (1983) work-family conflict scale to measure leisure-family conflict among highly committed runners and their families. While Fick et al. (1996) and Goff et al. (1997) did not adapt Carlson et al.'s (2000) work-family conflict scale, the practice of adapting a work-family conflict measure for use in other domains is not without precedent.

The full version of the scale contains 18 items designed to assess the bi-directional nature of work-family conflict (work interference with family and family interference with work) across the three types of inter-role conflict (time-based, strain-based, and behavior-based) originally proposed by Greenhaus and Beutell (1985). As this study is interested in the effect of the fan role on an individual's family life, only items assessing work interference with family were modified for inclusion. Overall, seven items were adapted for use: three for time-based fan-family conflict, three for strain-based fan-family conflict, and one for behavior-based fan-family conflict. The remaining behavior-based items from Carlson et al.'s (2000) scale were not appropriate measures of fan-family conflict, as they refer to problem solving compatibility between work and family roles, and workplace effectiveness. As such, two additional items from Stephens and Sommer's (as cited in Carlson et al., 2000) work-family scale were adapted. A fourth item was created and added to each of the fan-family conflict subscales to better capture inter-role conflict between sport fan and family roles. Additionally, three new items were created to assess economic-based conflict based on Carlson et al.'s (2000) and Gutek, Searle, and Klepa's (1991) measures of time-based work-family conflict. Participant responses were measured on a 7-point Likert-type scale with anchors ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). A field test and two pilot studies were conducted to ensure the reliability and validity of each of the subscales. A complete list of items and corresponding reliability estimates can be found in Table 1.

Team identification was assessed using the Team Identification Index created by Trail and James (2001). The scale consists of three items, measured on a seven-point Likert-type scale, and was modified to assess the extent to which participants identified with the home team at the data collection site.

In addition to measures of fan-family conflict and team identification, a third measure was included to assess an individual's involvement within his/her family role. According to Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) and Frone and Rice (1987), inter-role conflict is the product of an individual experiencing a simultaneous pull from two or more salient roles. Within the context of the current investigation, highly identified fans may only perceive inter-role conflict if their family role is a highly valued one as well. Therefore, it becomes essential to measure one's degree of involvement with his/her family in addition to level of team identification.

A modified version of Kanungo's (1982) Job Involvement Questionnaire was employed to assess family role involvement. The Job Involvement Questionnaire is a 10-item scale, originally designed to measure one's degree of psychological identification with his/ her job; however, researchers have adapted the instrument to measure involvement within the family domain as well (Carlson & Frone, 2003; Frone & Rice, 1987; Frone, Russell, & Cooper, 1992). A 4-item version of the scale was employed in the current investigation.

Data Collection and Sampling Procedure

Fans were approached in their seats beginning 60 minutes prior to kickoff and asked to participate in the study. Stratified random sampling was utilized to ensure the sample was representative of the entire population. Seating sections were randomly selected from each ticketing price point within the facility. Within each section, individuals appearing to be 25 years of age or older were targeted specifically in an effort to maximize responses from individuals with families. Individuals agreeing to participate were presented with a paper-pencil survey.

Data Analysis

All four hypotheses were tested using a one-way multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) to examine the main effect of team identification on fan-family conflict while controlling for the effect of family involvement. The analysis consisted of four dependent variables (time-based fan-family conflict, strain-based fan-family conflict, behavior-based fan-family conflict, and economic-based fan-family conflict), one selection variable (team identification), and one covariate (family involvement). A tripartite split was utilized to categorize respondents into three groups (high, moderate, low) based on their self-reported levels of team identification. Similar groupings have been made in prior team identification research (e.g., Dimmock & Grove, 2005; Lanter, 2011; Wann & Branscombe, 1990; 1993). Descriptive statistics on group sizes, means, and standard deviations are presented below.

Results

Descriptive Statistics

Of the 571 surveys distributed, a total of 479 were returned, 13 of which were discarded due to incomplete or unusable data. The final sample consisted of 466 participants, for a response rate of 81.6%. The team identification mean for the entire sample was 5.53 (SD = 1.58). For purposes of understanding how team identification impacted perceptions of fan-family conflict, respondents were categorized into one of three groups based on their level of team identification: high, moderate, and low. As noted above, a tripartite split was used to ensure relatively equal group sizes. The high identification group had a mean of 6.95 (SD =. 12, N = 184), the moderate identification group had a mean of 5.76 (SD = .48, N = 140), and the low identification group had mean of 3.48 (SD = 1.00, N = 142). ANOVA was conducted to ensure each group was significantly different from each other with respect to team identification. Results from this analysis confirmed each group represented a significantly different level of identification with the home team from a statistical perspective (F(2, 463) = 1281.23,p < .001).

As evidenced by the family involvement mean score (6.10; SD = 1.27), respondents were generally highly involved with their family roles. This was not the case however across the entire sample, as 13.3% of respondents reported a family involvement mean of 4.75 or less. The inclusion of family involvement as a covariate then, reduces within-group error variance (as a product of group differences on the family involvement variable) and provides a more accurate illustration of the effect of team identification on the four types of fan-family conflict (Field, 2009).

Multivariate Effect of Team Identification on Fan-Family Conflict

MANCOVA results revealed a statistically significant multivariate main effect of team identification on fan-family conflict (Wilks's [conjunction] = .890, F(8, 918) = 6.875, p < .001) indicating differences on the adjusted fan-family conflict means based on team identification. Follow-up analyses revealed significant univariate main effects of identification on time-based conflict (F(2, 462) = 8.58, p < .001), strain-based conflict (F(2, 462) = 12.05, p < .001), and behavior-based conflict (F(2, 462) = 4.29, p < .05). The main effect of identification on economic-based conflict was not significant (F(2, 462) = 1.43, p =.239). Effect size measures ranged from [[eta].sup.2] = .018 for behavior-based conflict to [[eta].sup.2] = .05 for strain-based conflict, indicating team identification had a small effect on the dependent variables (Stevens, 2002).

Given that team identification consisted of three levels (high, moderate, low), pairwise comparisons were conducted on Bonferroni corrected adjusted means to identify between-group differences regarding fan-family conflict. Results from the pairwise comparisons revealed highly identified fans experienced significantly higher levels of time-based conflict (M = 2.35, SD = 1.44) than fans low in identification (M = 1.87, SD = 1.15) at the .05 alpha level. A significant difference was also detected between moderately identified fans (M = 2.33, SD = 1.38) and fans in the low identification group. Highly identified and moderately identified fans were not significantly different with respect to perceptions of time-based fan-family conflict. A similar pattern was revealed on the dependent variable strain-based fan-family conflict. Highly identified fans (M = 2.27, SD = 1.34) and moderately identified fans (M = 2.24, SD = 1.28) reported significantly higher levels of strain-based conflict than fans low in identification (M = 1.73, SD = 1.16). Significant differences were not detected between highly identified and moderately identified fans. In terms of behavior-based conflict, a significant difference was detected between moderately identified fans (M = 2.36, SD = 1.40) and fans low in identification (M = 1.95, SD = 1.24). However, highly identified fans reported slightly lower levels of behavior-based FFC (M = 2.13, SD = 1.36) than moderately identified fans. Highly identified fans did not significantly differ from either group with respect to behavior-based fan-family conflict (Table 2).

Discussion

The primary purpose of the current study was to examine the nature of inter-role conflict between sport fan and family roles among fans with varying degrees of identification with a sports team. Although the results support hypotheses 1 and 2, and partially support hypothesis 3, mean scores suggest relatively low levels of fan-family conflict for the sample as a whole, even for those reporting high levels of team identification.

Regarding hypotheses 1, respondents identifying more strongly with the team experienced more time-based fan-family conflict than those whose fan role was less central to their identity. This finding is consistent with the work of Boyar et al. (2008), Carlson and Kacmar (2000), Fick et al. (1996), and others who have reported a positive relationship between role time commitment and inter-role conflict. A similar pattern was detected with respect to strain-based fan-family conflict. Prior research suggests highly identified fans experience strain stemming from membership in the sport fan role by way of identity maintenance processes and fluctuations in mood state (Dimmock et al., 2005; Hillman et al., 2000; Hirt et al., 1992; Smith et al., 1981; Warm & Branscombe, 1995; Wann & Dolan, 1994a; 1994b; Wann & Schrader, 2000). In line with these findings, highly identified fans in the current study reported significantly greater levels of strain-based conflict than fans low in identification.

Hypothesis 3 was partially supported in that individuals low in team identification indicated the least amount of behavior-based fan-family conflict; however, highly identified fans experienced a slight dip in behavior-based fan-family conflict compared to those with moderate degrees identification with the team. Research suggesting highly identified fans report less behavioral control at games and are more likely to engage in spectator aggression (Dimmock & Grove, 2005; Wann, 1993; Wann, et al., 1999; Wakefield & Wann, 2006) would seem to indicate highly identified fans would be more likely to experience higher levels of behavior-based fan-family conflict. While such behaviors are not characteristic of all sports fans, they undoubtedly contrast the behavioral expectations required for fulfillment of typical family role demands.

The non-linear behavior-based fan-family conflict data may be explained by the notion that problem behaviors such as blasting, out-group derogation, and fan aggression represent efforts on the part of the highly identified fan to maintain a positive social identity (Wann, 1993). As noted above, highly identified fans are unlikely to CORF following a loss (Trail, Anderson, & Fink., 2000; Wann & Branscombe, 1990), meaning they must rely on alternative processes to protect their identity. Acting out aggressively against other fans/officials or putting down fans of the other team may serve this purpose. Highly identified, and more specifically highly identified dysfunctional fans described in the Wakefield and Wann (2006) study, may justify such behaviors as being normative fan role responses (Hunt et al., 1999), therefore failing to perceive behavioral incompatibility with family role demands. Moderately identified fans on the other hand are not as inclined to protect their fan role identity, as the fan role is not as central to their core self-concept. As such, engagement in problem behaviors may be perceived as inappropriate or unsuited for the family role for this group.

Team identification did not affect how fans perceived economic-based fan-family conflict, thus, hypothesis 4 was not supported. In fact, the lowest economic-based fan-family conflict mean scores belonged to highly identified fans. This result is somewhat unexpected given Wann and Branscombe's (1993) findings which indicated highly identified fans spend more money following their team than fans with moderate or low identification with the team.

Several factors may have contributed to the lack of a significant finding as it relates to economic-based FFC. First, the financial expense of being a sport fan may not necessarily come at the expense of one's family. Sport fans and their families may budget for fan-related expenses to avoid conflict. Further, nearly 60% of respondents in this study reported an annual household income in excess of $60,000. More than a quarter of all respondents reported household earnings greater than $100,000. For these participants, being a fan may be an affordable leisure role. Additionally, only fans in attendance had an opportunity to participate in this study. Many fans may not attend games because of cost. This population may be more likely to experience economic-based conflict than those who are able to afford tickets and additional expenses associated with game attendance.

Although mean scores suggest perceptions of fan-family conflict to be relatively low (Table 2), it is premature to dismiss this phenomenon completely. While most respondents in this sample experienced little to no fan-family conflict, 25.5% of participants (N = 119) indicated moderate (2.51-5.5 on a 7-point Likert-type scale) to high (5.51-7.0 on a 7-point Likert-type scale) levels of time-based conflict, 25.9% (N = 121) experienced moderate to high levels of stain-based conflict, 27.1% (N = 126) reported moderate to high levels of behavior-based conflict, and 20% of respondents (N = 93) indicated experiencing moderate to high levels of economic-based fan-family conflict. These numbers suggest that for some, fan-family conflict may be an issue.

A possible explanation for the low fan-family conflict means may lie in the social desirability of participant responses, which is in an inherent limitation of this study. Social desirability bias occurs in research as "a function of attempting to present oneself in a favorable light to others (for instance the interviewer or researcher) and/or a functiori of maintaining one's own self-esteem" (Nancarrow, Brace, & Wright, 2001, p. 57). Unlike work, the fan role is not considered an essential role; thus, respondents may have been hesitant to answer fan-family conflict questions truthfully, as they could be perceived as self-incriminating. Further, issues of anonymity given the nature of paper/pencil surveys may have also contributed to more socially desirable responses.

From a practical perspective, these findings suggest engagement in the sport fan role may have consequences at home, even if they are unintentional. Significant differences were detected in time-based, strain-based, and behavior-based fan-family conflict based on one's level of identification. Sport fans, particularly those whose fan role is highly salient to their self-concept, should be cognizant of the effects of their fan role on alternative life roles. If sport fans indicate the demands of the fan role interfere with their ability to function fully within the family role, it is likely other family members recognize the conflict as well. Inter-role conflict has been found to have a negative impact on various family outcomes measures including family satisfaction (Carlson & Kacmar, 2000; Chiu, 1998; Judge, Ilies, & Scott, 2006), life stress (Parasuraman & Simmers, 2001), life satisfaction (Carlson & Kacmar, 2000; Chiu, 1998; Dixon & Sagas, 2007), spousal well-being (Burke et al., 1980), and overall health (Cooke & Rosseau, 1984; Winter, Roos, Rahkonen, Martikainen, & Lakelma, 2006). This study offers insight into the nature of fan-family conflict (time-based, strain-based, behavior-based, economic-based), which should aid sport fans, and their families, in making affective, behavioral, and cognitive adjustments to minimize the effects of fan role engagement on performance with the family domain.

One approach to lessening time-based conflict may be as simple as looking at team and family schedules for the upcoming weeks, or even months, and identifying times where conflicts exist. While this strategy may not eliminate time-based conflict altogether, it will allow other family members to revise expectations regarding time availability. Sport fans have countless options readily available to follow their favorite team(s) even on non-game days or during the off-season (i.e., playing fantasy football, chatting with other fans on team message boards, watching daily televised sports programming, perusing the internet for the latest team news). Not only do these behaviors require time, immersion to this degree may make it difficult to psychologically disengage from the sport fan role when actively participating in family role responsibilities (Carlson & Frone, 2003).

A highly identified fan experiencing strain-based fan-family conflict must keep in mind the fan role is but one role within his/her role set. Group membership within a family also constitutes a social identification according to Turner (1982). Social groups, as defined by Turner, may be characterized as "two or more individuals who share a common social identification of themselves or ... perceive themselves to be members of the same social category" (p. 15). Like one's identification as a fan, individuals may come to define themselves to others on the basis of their cognitive group categorizations as a spouse or parent. Highly identified fans who are also highly involved with their family role should make efforts to enhance or maintain their social identity through their family membership as well. Simply being more conscientious of family role demands, and what is required to fulfill such demands, may also aid in minimizing strain-based fan-family conflict (Halbesleben et al., 2009).

Although participants did not readily admit to experiencing much behavior-based fan-family conflict, prior research does suggest a link between some problem behaviors and team identification. Regardless of whether a highly identified fan perceives behavior-based conflict, he/she must be able to recognize the behavioral expectation of the role of the moment and act accordingly. For some, this may require a conscious effort to psychologically disengage from the sport fan role while participating in family activities.

As this initial investigation into the economic-based fan-family conflict phenomenon was exploratory in nature, future research is needed to better understand how families budget for fan role expenses. Prior research suggests family financial concerns, as a result of participating in economic activities, have detrimental consequences within the family role (Abbott et al., 1995; Downs & Woolrych, 2010; Wenzel et al., 2008). To avoid such outcomes, sport fans and their families should be open about the finances regarding sport consumption. Families should set boundaries as to what is acceptable spending and prioritize which consumptive activities are of most importance (e.g., purchasing season tickets, buying a new jersey, ordering premium television packages such as NFL Sunday Ticket, etc.).

Future Research

The current study represents a first step in understanding inter-role conflict between fan and family roles. Future work should examine fan-family conflict as experienced by other family members. Such methods have been previously employed in both work-family conflict (Burke et al., 1980) and leisure-family conflict (Goffet al., 1997) research. As findings from this study suggest, fan-family conflict scores were on the low end of the spectrum. This may not accurately reflect perceptions of fan-family conflict for other family members. Participants in this study may have been hesitant to respond honestly to survey questions portraying themselves in a negative light. Therefore, it becomes important to gauge fan-family conflict from multiple perspectives in order to more fully understand the construct.

A qualitative inquiry may also yield interesting findings unique to fan-family conflict. The current study is primarily grounded in work-family conflict literature. While work and fan roles share some similarities, they are different. Interviews and focus groups with highly identified fans and their family members may reveal new dimensions of conflict not previously explored. One such dimension may be that of inter-role enrichment, which Greenhaus and Powell (2006) defined as "the extent to which experiences in one role improve the quality of life in [another] role" (p. 73). It may possible for positive spillover to occur from the sport fan to family role, particularly when the sport fan role is a shared experience with other family members. Indeed, previous research suggests family support of one's role(s) outside of the family domain has been found to lessen perceptions of inter-role conflict between family and competing roles (Boyar et al., 2008; Fick et al., 1996; Goff et al., 1997). At the very least, conflict surrounding perishable resources such as time, energy, or money may be reduced in cases where family members participate in the sport fan role together.

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Jason M. Simmons

University of Tampa

T. Christopher Greenwell

University of Louisville

Address correspondence to: Jason M. Simmons, Department of Sport Management, University of Tampa, Tampa, FL 33606. Email: jmsimmons@ut.edu Table 1 Scale Items and Corresponding Reliability Estimates Fan-Family Conflict Items Time-based FFC ([alpha] = .800) Following (team name) keeps me from my family activities more than I would like. The time I must devote to following (team name) keeps me from participating equally in household responsibilities and activities. I have to miss family activities due to the amount of time I must spend on activities involving (team name). The time I invest in (team name) interferes with my ability to participate in family activities. Strain-based FFC ([alpha] = .829) When I get home from a (team name) game I am often too preoccupied with thoughts of the game to participate in family activities/responsibilities. I am often so emotionally drained when I get home from a (team name) game that it prevents me from contributing to my family. Due to all the tension/pressures of following (team name), sometimes I am too stressed to do the things I enjoy. Sometimes I am irritable at home due to the stress I experience following (team name). Behavior-based FFC ([alpha] = .809) The behavior I exhibit at a (team name) game is inappropriate at home. I am not able to act the same way at home as I do at a (team name) game In order for me to enjoy (team name), I must be a different person at the game than I can be at home. I behave differently at a (team name) game than I do at home. Economic-based ([alpha] = .783) I spend so much on (team name) that I cannot spend money on other family activities. My family struggles to fulfill financial commitments due to the amount of money I spend on (team name). My family complains about the amount of money I spend on (team name). The money I spend on (team name) would be better spent on my family. Table 2 Means and Standard Deviations for Team Identification Time Strain Team ID Mean SD Mean SD Low 1.87 1.15 1.73 1.16 Moderate 2.33 1.38 2.24 1.28 High 2.35 1.44 2.27 1.34 Behavior Economic Team ID Mean SD Mean SD Low 1.95 1.24 1.96 1.20 Moderate 2.36 1.40 2.06 1.19 High 2.13 1.36 1.79 1.09