M4 Understanding Emotional Maltreatment and Neglect

Emotional Abuse

Non-contact behaviours (or a pattern of non-contact behaviours) that cause harm or have the potential to cause harm emotionally/psychologically

In-class Videos

Two clips from in-school movies

• Illustrates teachers belittling students, using insensitive language, downgrading, making individuals feel unintelligent and worthless

Research Counter Narrative

Wilson conducted a study interviewing Olympic/Paralympic/World Championship medalists with positive experiences

• Counters the idea that maltreatment is the most effective way to elicit performance

Coaching Philosophy Example

Wilson found one coach particularly interesting

• One successful coach (former Olympian) made a note that athletes try their best daily

• If they’re not giving it 100%, talk with them, and try to figure out why that’s the case

• Tackles the heart of the issue rather than blaming the athlete for poor performance

Tolerated Behaviour in Sport vs School

Certain behaviours are tolerated in sport vs school

• Yelling: Normalized, sometimes deemed necessary in sport while in school it’s inappropriate/unprofessional

• Priorities: To a degree, sport generally prioritizes physical strength and winning while school prioritizes learning/improvement

• Competition vs Collaboration: Sport often pits athletes against each other; school promotes collaboration

Should There be One Standard

Should sport be held to the same standards as other child-immersive institutions like school (given the developmental impact?)

• Devil’s Advocate: Sport needs stricter feedback, accountability, and pressure for performance/drills. Verbal abuse is common in sport, but can be adjusted.

• This situation is complex as sport and school are fundamentally different environments due to deeply embedded structural norms.

Lazy Tools for Lazy Coaches

Quote from a guest lecturer, emphasizing that harmful behaviours are often an easy, rather than effective, coaching tactic, stemming from lack of better tools/education and socialization.

Types of Emotional Abuse

1. Verbal Abuse

2. Physical Acts

3. Denial of Attention

Verbal Abuse

Includes yelling, shouting, belittling, name-calling, degrading comments, humiliation

• Raising one’s voice (e.g. in a loud environment to get one’s attention) doesn’t necessarily constitute emotional abuse

  • Moreso about the content of the words

Physical Acts

Acts of physical aggression, not directed at a person

• Minimal physical harm potential but still an act of aggression

e.g. throwing objects, getting into someone’s personal space

Denial of Attention

Being ignored for performance, dismissed from practice, silent treatment

• e.g. ignoring an athlete who misses the mark for a certain lap time

Athlete Quotes on Emotional Abuse

Study that looked at retired athletes’ experiences of abuse

• Verbal: “We would be called ‘useless’ and a ‘waste of time’ regularly. and ‘fucking stupid’ all the time. No one on the team escape it”

• Physical: “When our coach got upset about our effort or our times, he’d throw flutter boards at us. One time he got so mad he threw a chair in the pool”

• Denial of Attention: “If the coach wasn’t happy with our practice, she would just sit on the bench with an angry look on her face and she wouldn’t talk to us. No feedback, no direction.”

Emotional Abuse as a Pattern

Often times, emotional abuse is a buildup of “lesser” behaviours over time

• Not just a single outrageous incident

• This can make it harder to identify as a person experiencing it

Effects of Emotional Abuse

Effects include

• Unpredictability

• Diminished self-confidence

• Lower self-confidence

Unpredictability

Some days the coach may be nice or not nice. Creates a kind of psychological warfare

• “I had knots in my stomach every morning because I didn’t know what kind of mood [my coach] would be in, what she would say to me or my teammates.”

Diminished Self-Confidence

Constantly made to feel inferior, not good enough

• “I was constantly in fear, in fear that I was not good enough, fear that I was, you know, not pretty enough or not thing enough, or that I would be kicked off the team for one reason or another.”

Lower Mental Health

Depression, anxiety, questioning purpose

• “I remember coming home at night and crying myself to sleep every day because I knew I had to do it all over again the next day.”

Post-Effects of Emotional Abuse

Effects include:

• Relief

• Loss of self

• Disengagement

• Realization

Relief

No pride, no joy, just relief

• “I just felt relieved because I didn’t have to deal with all the negative comments and all that I got from my coaches.”

Loss of Self

Mom hardly recognized her, became vibrant again years later

• “I was just a shell of who I was.”

Disengagement

“I no longer wanted to be in sport. I didn’t want to talk about it… I didn’t even want to acknowledge my existence for a long time.”

Long-Term Effects of Emotional Abuse

Effects include

• Acceptance/peace

• PTSD symptoms (heart racing with authority figures, untrusting)

• Triggers (hearing last name)

• Regret/sadness/shame

• Reconciling (recognizing that multiple things can be true, positive experiences, but negative impact still present) PTSD can overshadow good memories

Overall Outcomes of Emotional Abuse

Overall outcomes:

• Positive and negative performance outcomes

• Depression

• Anxiety

• Eating disorders

• PTSD

• Negative memories from sport

• Lack of pride

Reasons for Emotional Abuse in Sport

• Normalization in sports (focus on winning, cultural factors)

• Ends justify the means (using abusive tactics because other elite sports teams use it)

• High expectations in competitive environments

• Easy power tactic (less visible/punishable than physical abuse)

• Attacking the person rather than correcting the behaviour

• Lack of coach education (lazy tools for lazy coaches

Body Shaming in Sport

Negative or critical comments about another’s appearance, weight, body shape, or size

Shaming and Norms

Shaming typically happens when someone deviates from a set standard or norm

• People work hard to avoid deviating/being shamed

Shaming History

There’s a cultural component to body shaming and beauty standards change over time

e.g. 1990s “heroin chic” vs 2010s curves to current “skinny” trend

Body Shaming in Sport

Every sport has specific body norms

• e.g. tall in basketball, lean in figure skating, muscular in rugby/football, six-packs in track and field, slim tummy in swimming

Body Shaming as Emotional Abuse

Athletes frequently linked body shaming to emotional abuse. For example

• Judgement

• Negative Comments

• Food/Water Restrictions

• Witnessing Others

• Internalization of Norms

Judgement

Weighed in public, coaches watching weigh-ins, specific weight requirements, feeling “monitored”

Negative Comments

Coaches pointing out body aspects, weight gain

Food/Water Restrictions

Coach-given diet recommendations

• e.g. only watermelon on rest days

Witnessing Others

Seeing other slim athletes shamed for weight leads to self-monitoring (“if you look at someone who’s very slim and they’re being told they’re overweight, you look back at yourself and you’re like, okay, well, clearly I’m not doing very well”)

Internalization of Norms

Starting to believe negative comments even when untrue (‘it just was like so much of a part of sport that like, there’s no choice but to kind of believe it”)

Takeaways on Body Shaming

• Not just verbal commentary; involves social norms and expectations

• Can lead to illicit substance use, over-exercising, supplement use

• Not only coaches, but teammates encourage as well

• Leads to negative and long-term effects

• Appearance does not necessarily equate to performance

Prevention/Intervention of Body Shaming

Focus on performance factors that are controllable and that have the least amount of harm

• Recognize malnutrition’s impact on performance, sustainability, mental health, physical health

• Cost-benefit analysis of methods

Body Shaming Types

Body shaming types are consistent with types of emotional abuse

• Physical Acts

• Verbal Behaviours

• Denial of Attention

Physical Body Shaming

Watching athletes being weighed, caliper testing, “pinching”, DEXA scans

Verbal Body Shaming

Comments about weight/body

Denial of Attention Body Shaming

Removal/threatened removal from team due to weight, ignoring athletes due to weight, explicit instruction to ignore a teammate due to weight

Neglect

Failure to provide for the development of a child in the context of resources that are reasonably available to family or caretakers and causes or has probability of causing harm to the child’s health, physical, mental, or spiritual, moral, or social development

Neglect Definition Key Points

Key: failure to care in the context of resources reasonably available — standards of care vary by context (e.g. country you’re in

• Causes/probability of harm to child’s health

Neglect Understudied

Neglect is much less studied than sexual, physical, or emotional abuse

• Challenging due to definitions: Acts of omission (not doing something) rather than acts of commission

• Harder to determine intent

Neglect Types

Developed by Dr. Gretchen Kerr

• Physical Neglect

• Supervisory Neglect

• Educational Neglect

• Emotional Neglect

• Institutional Neglect

Physical Neglect

Failure to provide basic needs (food, clothing, hygiene)

Failure to provide medical care (injuries, illness, mental health, disability)

Prevented by:

• Modifying training (injury or ED)

• Ensuring availability of team doctors

• Providing adequate nutrition/breaks during competitions

Supervisory Neglect

Failure to provide adequate supervision (e.g. no lifeguard for aquatic athletes)

Failure to protect from environmental hazards (e.g. chlorine levels, tripping hazards)

Educational Neglect

Not allowing school attendance due to training hours, not enough time for homework

Emotional Neglect

Failure to meet emotional needs (inadequate nurturing/affection)

Allowing developmentally inappropriate environments (e.g. bullying, ostracization w/o intervention)

Not stepping in when a child is distressed or crying alone

Institutional Neglect Example

PyeongChang Olympics (Snowboarding Halfpipe)

• Event proceeded despite dangerous wind conditions (phone warnings for state of emergency) due to broadcasting schedules, put athletes at severe risk of injury

Correlation b/w Harm and Mental Health Outcomes

Study (2023) noted statistically significant correlation between all types of harm and various mental health indicators

• Athletes experiencing harm had a higher likelihood of reporting self-harm or ED behaviours

• Less well-being reported by athletes experiencing harm