TY - BOOK

T1 - Sport and migrants' acculturation

AU - Morela, Eleftheria

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - In the era of globalization, multicultural societies are common-place in mostdeveloped countries. Therefore, new challenges at both national and internationallevel have come to the fore, and successful acculturation appears to be the key formaintaining social cohesion and promoting multiculturalism. Sport is considered to bea vehicle for bringing people together, and recently there has been an increasingpolicy interest in the use of sport as a venue for promoting social integration andintercultural dialogue. Regardless of its political significance, research on theintegrative role of sport is limited and findings seem equivocal. Overall the purpose ofthe present study was to investigate whether participation in organized sport can affectthe acculturation process of young adolescents from both minority and majoritypopulations in Greece, and to explore features ofthe sporting environment that arelikely to associate with positive acculturation outcomes. Fourseparate studies wereconducted. The first study is a systematic review that aims to provide a complete andexhaustive summary of the current literature relevant to the integrative role of sport,in order to better understand the acculturation process and to identify factors that mayregulate the acculturation process through sport participation. The second studyfocuses on adolescent migrants and aimed at identifying differences in acculturationattitudes and acculturative stress among young migrants who participate in sports andthose who do not.Furthermore, it investigates the role of the coach-created sportingenvironment in the acculturation process within those participating in sport. Theresults revealed significant differences regarding the level of acculturative stress withmigrant participants engaging in sports scoring lower on acculturative stress than theircounterparts that did not. In addition, valuable findingsemerged regarding the coach’sinfluence on young migrants’ acculturation, where an autonomy supportive coachingstyle was positively linked to integrative patterns and negatively related toacculturative stress. Considering that acculturation is a two-way process involvingboth migrant and host populations, the next two studies were conducted with Greekyoung adolescents in order to enhance our understanding of the complexity of theacculturation process. In this regard, the purpose of the third study was to explore theacculturation attitudes of Greek adolescents as a function of sport participation, and,for those participating in sport, to investigate the role of the motivationalenvironment.The results showed that athletes scored higher than non-athletes on attitudes towardsmulticultural contact. Furthermore, an empowering motivational environmentcharacterized by a mastery climate, supportive of the needs of autonomy, competence,and relatedness, was positively linked to attitudes favoring migrants' maintenance oftheir culture and development of interaction with the host culture, whereas adisempowering motivational environment characterized by a performance climate andcontrolling coaching behaviour was negatively linked to such attitudes. Based on theresults of the third study, the final study aimed to provide a preliminary insight intothe socio-moral factors that may explain why an empowering motivational climate isassociated with integrative acculturation attitudes among the host population.Towards this direction, empathy and altruism were examined as potential mediators ofthe relationship between empowering motivational climate and acculturation attitudes.The results revealed that an empowering motivational environment could predictempathy and altruism, which in turn predicted positive acculturation attitudes of thehost population towards migrants. Overall, the present dissertation provides valuableevidence regarding the role of sport as an acculturation agent, with particularemphasis on the importance of appropriate motivational environment. This evidenceenhances our understanding of how sport can be used as an effective socializingcontext and introduces new directions for further investigating acculturation in adiversifying world.

AB - In the era of globalization, multicultural societies are common-place in mostdeveloped countries. Therefore, new challenges at both national and internationallevel have come to the fore, and successful acculturation appears to be the key formaintaining social cohesion and promoting multiculturalism. Sport is considered to bea vehicle for bringing people together, and recently there has been an increasingpolicy interest in the use of sport as a venue for promoting social integration andintercultural dialogue. Regardless of its political significance, research on theintegrative role of sport is limited and findings seem equivocal. Overall the purpose ofthe present study was to investigate whether participation in organized sport can affectthe acculturation process of young adolescents from both minority and majoritypopulations in Greece, and to explore features ofthe sporting environment that arelikely to associate with positive acculturation outcomes. Fourseparate studies wereconducted. The first study is a systematic review that aims to provide a complete andexhaustive summary of the current literature relevant to the integrative role of sport,in order to better understand the acculturation process and to identify factors that mayregulate the acculturation process through sport participation. The second studyfocuses on adolescent migrants and aimed at identifying differences in acculturationattitudes and acculturative stress among young migrants who participate in sports andthose who do not.Furthermore, it investigates the role of the coach-created sportingenvironment in the acculturation process within those participating in sport. Theresults revealed significant differences regarding the level of acculturative stress withmigrant participants engaging in sports scoring lower on acculturative stress than theircounterparts that did not. In addition, valuable findingsemerged regarding the coach’sinfluence on young migrants’ acculturation, where an autonomy supportive coachingstyle was positively linked to integrative patterns and negatively related toacculturative stress. Considering that acculturation is a two-way process involvingboth migrant and host populations, the next two studies were conducted with Greekyoung adolescents in order to enhance our understanding of the complexity of theacculturation process. In this regard, the purpose of the third study was to explore theacculturation attitudes of Greek adolescents as a function of sport participation, and,for those participating in sport, to investigate the role of the motivationalenvironment.The results showed that athletes scored higher than non-athletes on attitudes towardsmulticultural contact. Furthermore, an empowering motivational environmentcharacterized by a mastery climate, supportive of the needs of autonomy, competence,and relatedness, was positively linked to attitudes favoring migrants' maintenance oftheir culture and development of interaction with the host culture, whereas adisempowering motivational environment characterized by a performance climate andcontrolling coaching behaviour was negatively linked to such attitudes. Based on theresults of the third study, the final study aimed to provide a preliminary insight intothe socio-moral factors that may explain why an empowering motivational climate isassociated with integrative acculturation attitudes among the host population.Towards this direction, empathy and altruism were examined as potential mediators ofthe relationship between empowering motivational climate and acculturation attitudes.The results revealed that an empowering motivational environment could predictempathy and altruism, which in turn predicted positive acculturation attitudes of thehost population towards migrants. Overall, the present dissertation provides valuableevidence regarding the role of sport as an acculturation agent, with particularemphasis on the importance of appropriate motivational environment. This evidenceenhances our understanding of how sport can be used as an effective socializingcontext and introduces new directions for further investigating acculturation in adiversifying world.

UR - https://soeg.kb.dk/permalink/45KBDK_KGL/fbp0ps/alma99122314186905763

M3 - Ph.D. thesis

BT - Sport and migrants' acculturation

PB - Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen

ER -