U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Social Psychology of Alcohol Use and Violent Behavior Among Sports Spectators

NCJ Number
248119
Journal
Aggression and Violent Behavior Volume: 19 Issue: 4 Dated: July/August 2014 Pages: 303-310
Author(s)
Michael K. Ostrowsky
Date Published
August 2014
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This literature review examined studies that investigated the link between alcohol use and violent behavior among sports spectators.
Abstract
Findings from previous studies that examined the link between alcohol use and violent behavior among sports spectators have been mixed, with no clear resulting show a definite link between the two. Instead, the evidence from these studies suggests that a variety of social psychological factors closely related to alcohol and/or violence need to be taken into account when studying the link between the two actions. This paper discusses nine of these factors and how they contribute to the alcohol-violence link among sports spectators. The nine social psychological factors examined in this paper are 1) thrill seeking/quest for excitement; 2) impulsivity; 3) frustration; 4) anger; 5) psychopathy; 6) the false consensus effect; 7) the Bedouin syndrome; 8) team identification; and 9) alcohol expectancies. The author suggests that these nine factors play an important role in the link between alcohol use and violent behavior at sporting events and that they need to be included in future research. References