The Relationship Between Leadership Behaviors and Group Cohesion in Team Sports |
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| Authors: | David Lyle Light Shields Douglas E. Gardner Brenda Jo Light Bredemeier Alan Bostro |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Graduate School of Professional Psychology John F. Kennedy University;2. School of Education Boston University;3. Division of Social Science , University of California , Berkeley;4. Center for AIDS Prevention Studies , University of California , San Francisco |
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| Abstract: | The relationship between leadership behaviors and team cohesion among baseball and softball players at two school levels was analyzed in relation to predictions based on Chelladurai and Carron's (1978) Multidimensional Model of Leadership (MML). Athletes (n = 307) completed the perceived and preferred versions of the Leadership Scale for Sports (LSS) and the Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ). Athletes' coaches (n = 23) completed the self-perceived version of the LSS. Task and social cohesion were assessed in relation to the scales of the three individual versions of the LSS and in relation to two types of discrepancy scores: value and perceptual. Although the concept of discrepancy is prominent in MML theory, the perceptual discrepancy score represents an innovation. Results indicated that, in general, team cohesion was most strongly related to the perceived LSS version and the perceptual discrepancy scores. |
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