Objectives: The current study examined prosocial and antisocial behaviors from teammates as predictors of within-person differences over time in self-reported prosocial and antisocial teammate behaviors toward teammates and social identity strength. Design: Over a 10-day period, a daily diary approach was used to collect 848 observations from 100; male, n = 45; female, n = 55 youth hockey athletes who were between 11 and 17 years of age (Mage = 13.24, SD = 1.83). Method: Participants completed daily diaries related to their experiences of prosocial and antisocial behavior from teammates, the prosocial and antisocial behaviors they directed toward teammates, and social identity strength. Linear mixed-level modelling was used to examine how daily experiences of moral behavior from teammates over-time were linked to within-person differences in moral behaviors toward teammates and social identity strength. Results: Multilevel analyses showed significant within-person variance in athletes’ moral behaviors toward teammates and their social identity strength. These differences were predicted by daily experiences of prosocial and antisocial behavior from teammates. Athletes reported a stronger social identity on days they experienced a higher number of prosocial behaviors, and a weaker social identity on days they experienced a higher number of antisocial behaviors. The frequency of daily experienced prosocial and antisocial behaviors interacted in predicting self-reported prosocial and antisocial behaviors toward teammates. Conclusion: Daily prosocial and antisocial behaviors from teammates are systematically related to the ways that athletes behave toward their teammates as well as the strength with which they identify with their sport team.

Introduction

Scholars have called for greater attention to how the social environments in sport teams contribute to athlete experiences (Martin, Bruner, Eys, & Spink, 2014; Smith, 2003). A social environment refers to the nature of interactions as well as the quality of ongoing interpersonal relationships among social actors in a particular social setting (Shaw, 1981). Thus, the social environments within sport teams are neither monolithic (i.e., sport teams have distinct social environments), nor are they experienced uniformly by athletes (i.e., individual experiences differ as a result of how one interacts with others in the group) (Holt, Black, Tamminen, Fox, & Mandigo, 2008). Several lines of inquiry evidence the significance of athletes’ social environments on cognitive, affective, and behavioral outcomes. Examples include research showing positive links between attraction to the task aspects of a team and the use of more adaptive pre-competition coping strategies (Wolf, Eys, Sadler, & Kleinert, 2015), general psychological need satisfaction and emotional regulation (Taylor & Bruner, 2012), and perceived sociomoral atmosphere and prosocial behavior (Rutten et al., 2007). Moreover, the social environments within youth sport teams may be particularly consequential for athletes. Relationships outside the family unit become increasingly salient during adolescence, with peer acceptance surfacing as a highly relevant goal for youth (Harris, 1995). Theoretical accounts from developmental and social psychological perspectives cast the interaction between individuals and their peers as a key issue relevant to social behavior (e.g., Bandura, 1991) and youth development more generally (e.g., Brown, 2004; Harris, 1995).