2021 Volume 31 Issue 4 Pages 4_399-4_410
Pride is an important emotion that functions positively for mastery, proficiency, and success in sports. The purpose of this study was to classify pride experiences of athletes, and to explore their characteristics. University student-athletes (n=195) were asked to come to think of and describe their experiences of pride in sport. The collected emotional episodes were first organized into three components: “situation,” “incident,” and “individual.” After that, each component was further classified as follows: First, “situation” was categorized into five categories: ‘achievement,’ ‘praise,’ ‘desirable action,’ ‘limelight,’ and ‘cheered.’ Next, “incident” was categorized into seven categories: ‘sociality,’ ‘accomplishment,’ ‘diligence,’ ‘benefit,’ ‘ability,’ ‘cooperation,’ and ‘success.’ Then, the “individual” was categorized into four categories: ‘self,’ ‘teammates,’ ‘group,’ and ‘entourage.’ Chi square test for categorical variables in each component showed that ‘achievement,’ ‘sociality,’ and ‘self’ occurred significantly more often. Correspondence analysis then revealed that ‘self’ was related to ‘achievement,’ ‘sociality,’ and ‘diligence,’ while ‘teammate’ was related to ‘desirable action,’ ‘accomplishment,’ and ‘ability.’ These results provide two suggestions: 1) pride is experienced not only in superiority by social comparison, but also in building good relationships with others; 2) university student-athletes tend to experience pride in relationships rather than superiority. It will be necessary to substantiate these findings in future research.
