The relationships among athletic events, competitive level, and envy: Focusing on malicious and benign envy

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the relationship among athletes’ envy, athletic events, and competitive level. A survey was conducted among 496 university athletes (428 men and 68 women). The results indicated that competitive level was positively associated with benign envy in competitive sports (open-skill sports), while no significant association between the two was observed in record sports (closed-skill sports). Moreover, athletic events and competitive level were not significantly associated with malicious envy. Therefore, envy scores differed depending on the athletic events, competitive level, and the combinations thereof.