Transformations  in
Business & Economics

BULLYING AND HARASSMENT PREVENTION IN YOUTH BASKETBALL TEAMS
Jolita Vveinhardt, Diana Komskiene, Zasha Romero

ABSTRACT. The work aims at identifying the extent of the incidence of bullying and harassment; furthermore, it will help understand the offensive nature of the action and identify prevention measures for helping victims in youth basketball teams. It suggests organisational and individual preventive measures to limit possible attack and can help the victims identify available assistance resources. In order to expand the scientific literature in this area, this study wishes to broaden the field of bullying and harassment research to include after-school teen-sports activities and potential professional athletes. Quantitative analysis method was selected using a developed questionnaire which distinguished bullying and harassment and evaluated prevention methods that were applied in practice. The developed questionnaire helped identify the following topics: bullying and harassment prevalence and characteristics in sports teams, formation of negative opinion and the nature of the sport tasks, physical well-being of team members and consequences. The paper provides empirical conclusions on how bullying and harassment affects youth basketball teams. It is argued that existing conflict management systems are not effectively exploited in the prevention of bullying and harassment. The article expands the literature on bullying and harassment at school age from 8th to 11th grade and provides novel opportunities for problem solving in assessing after-school activities. Research limitations - for this investigation, conclusions may lack depth. To address this issue, we proposed to conduct in-depth qualitative studies and evaluation of similar efforts in samples of different ethnic and cultural background. The originality of the study will produce novel results on bullying and harassment in junior relations, the situation in extra-curricular activities - basketball teams, where future potential / professional players are developed, revealing the dynamics of relationship between team members, the role of coaches. This represents the lack of utilisation of proven methods in prevention of bullying and harassment for both teams as well as others. This investigation will address the lack of scientific research and create a more meaningful connection between teen sports, bullying and harassment issues .

KEYWORDS:  bullying, harassment, prevention, youth, sport, basketball teams, Lithuania, Eastern Europe.

JEL classification:  L83, M19.