Posted on: August 13, 2008
Fury on the Field
Study connects angry soccer parents and road rage
By Jessica Abels
CTW Features
If you’re the type of soccer parent who experiences road rage on the way to the field, a new study from the University of Maryland suggests you’re more likely to get angry outside the minivan, too.
After surveying 340 soccer parents in the Washington, D.C. suburbs, Ph.D student Jay Goldstein and professor Seppo E. Iso-Ahola in the kinesiology department at the School of Public Health found that “sideline rage” is triggered by ego defensiveness, one of the primary catalysts of road rage. According to their research, control-oriented parents are more likely to take incidents personally and display irritation with coaches, players, referees and even their own children.
“In general, control-oriented people are the kind who try to ‘keep up with the Joneses,’” Goldstein says. “They have a harder time controlling their reactions. They more quickly become one of ‘those’ parents than the parents who are able to separate their ego from their kids and events on the field.”
He says the parents who can remove themselves from the equation, called autonomy-oriented parents, can also experience sideline rage, but on a different level.
“Regardless of their personality type, all parents were susceptible to becoming more aggressive as a result of viewing actions on the field as affronts to them or their kids,” Goldstein says. “However, that being said, it took autonomy-oriented parents longer to get there as compared to the control-oriented parents.”
In the event that you feel frustration rising at your child’s next game, Goldstein suggests deep breathing, yoga-like stretches, or positive visualization as ways to quell negative feelings.
