The Frequency and Determinants of Positive and Negative Officiating Interactions and the Relationships with Mental Ill-Health Symptoms in Sports Officials

Abstract

Background

Concerns exist about the prevalence of abuse directed towards sports officials and its impact on their mental health; however, sports officiating can also be a rewarding experience.

Objectives

The present study aimed to identify the frequency and determinants of both positive (e.g. praise, appreciation, apologies) and negative (e.g. verbal abuse, physical abuse, social media abuse) officiating interactions and to examine their independent contributions to mental ill-health symptoms.

Methods

An online, cross-sectional survey was distributed to current or former sports officials operating on a voluntary or paid basis in the United Kingdom (UK). Participants completed validated measures of mental ill-health symptoms (Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale) and daily hassles (LIVES-Daily Hassles Scale) and reported the frequency with which they experienced positive and negative officiating interactions.

Results

A total of 320 sports officials (73.8% male; mean age ± standard deviation (SD) = 49.99 ± 15.86 years) completed the survey with the most represented sports including cricket (30.3%), rugby union (24.4%) and football (soccer) [16.9%]. Regular positive officiating interactions were experienced by 90.0% of sports officials and regular negative officiating interactions by 22.2%. Logistic regression analyses revealed that male sports officials (odds ratio (OR) = 3.95; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.34, 11.65) were significantly more likely to experience regular positive interactions, while football officials (OR = 7.33; 95% CI = 1.38, 38.90) were significantly more likely to experience regular negative interactions. When controlling for daily hassles, age and sex, regular positive interactions were independently associated with lower odds of depression (OR = 0.38; 95% CI = 0.15, 0.92) and anxiety (OR = 0.33; 95% CI = 0.13, 0.82) symptoms. However, regular negative officiating interactions were not independently associated with mental ill-health symptoms.

Conclusions

Positive officiating interactions were commonly experienced and independently predicted lower odds of mental ill-health symptoms. Approximately one fifth of officials reported regular negative interactions, although this was notably higher among football officials. No independent association existed between negative interactions and mental ill-health symptoms, and future research should determine if positive interactions help to offset the impact of negative ones for sports officials.