Moral Development in a Win at All Cost Society - An Examination of Moral Knowing Development in 9th Grade Athletes

Oct 15, 2026

Quantitative study examining whether strategic intervention workshops improve moral knowing for 111 ninth-grade athletes, using the Rudd-Stoll-Beller-Hahm (RSBH) Value Judgment Inventory. Results contrast workshop participants with students who did not attend, reporting effects on moral knowing as well as social and moral character components. Findings indicate explicit training positively influences moral knowing among athletes in the workshops, while social and moral character measures show no statistically significant differences between groups.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Purpose and Study Design

Participants and Measurement (RSBH)

Key Findings and Conclusions

Background: Win-at-All-Cost Mentality and Athletics

Review of Literature

Moral Development

Ethics, Moral Disengagement, and Sports Structure

Moral Development in a Win at All Cost Society: An Examination of Moral Knowing Development in 9th Grade Athletes Michael Flynn University of Tampa Jason LaFrance Florida Southern College The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the degree to which participating in strategic intervention workshops affected the level of moral knowing of 111 9th grade athletes. Results from the Rudd-Stoll-Beller-Hahm (RSBH) Value Judgment Inventory were utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of one program. Findings and conclusions are presented on the moral knowing, social character, and moral character of workshop participants versus students who did not attend workshops. Findings suggest that explicit training had a positive impact on the moral knowing of athletes who attended the strategic intervention workshops. Conversely, there was no statistically significant difference in social and moral character components between workshop attendees and non-attendees. Keywords: Morality, Educationally Based Athletics, Moral Knowing, Moral Development in Education Education Leadership Review of Doctoral Research, Vol. 7. Fall/Winter 2019 ISSN: 1532-0723 © 2019 International Council of Professors of Educational Leadership. This manuscript may not be used commercially or edited. When quoting portions of this text, full attribution to the author/s is required. While the development of an adolescent’s moral decision-making process is often established in the home, schools also play a significant role. In many cases, this development takes place in a school’s athletic program. This is particularly important considering that 53% of the 14.8 million high school students participated in some form of athletics (National Center for Education Statistics, 2016; National Federation of High School Sports, 2015). These high participation rates are an opportunity for educational leaders to counteract the win at all cost mentality that is pervasive in sports culture (Ruud, 2005) . Given this information, it is incumbent upon educational leaders to provide athletes with effective programs that assist with their moral development. Increasingly, schools are called on to provide an education that attends to the academic and social development of students (deMarrais and LeCompte, 1995; Best, 2000) . One component of social development is moral development. A common belief is that sports can provide opportunities for personal growth and social development (Ewing, 1997) . However, recent research has suggested there is a growing trend to the contrary. Researchers have found that student-athletes engaged in cheating, trying to injure opponents, arguing with officials, and poor sportsmanship (Shields, Bredemeier, LaVoi, & Power, 2005; Martin, Gould, Ewing, 2017) . Due to the nature of competition in sport, antisocial behavior may be encouraged if coaches, parents, or athletes value winning above sportsmanship and fair play (Shields & Bredemeier, 1995) . Kvalnes and Hemmestad (2010) suggest that negative trends in the moral development of athletes could be attributed to the moral structures surrounding athletics. These structures have athletes caught between a rules-based approach where moral action is limited to the stated rules and an Aristotelian approach, which honors sportsmanship and the intent of the rules. By having a rulesbased approach in athletics, organizations can create a loophole mentality (Kvalnes and Hemmestad, 2010) . Findings from Rudd, Stoll, Beller, and Hahm (2009) support these findingsand note that the environment of athletics has not been supportive of teaching and modeling moral knowing, moral valuing, and moral action due to limited consequences for immoral behaviors in the sport environment. To counteract this growing trend, some researchers recommend exposing athletes to explicit morality training and researching interventions to ensure that youth sport is a positive environment for all participants (Turnnidge,

FAQs

What was the primary purpose of the study?

To examine the degree to which participation in strategic intervention workshops affected the level of moral knowing of ninth-grade athletes.

How were participants’ moral knowing and related components evaluated?

The study used results from the Rudd-Stoll-Beller-Hahm (RSBH) Value Judgment Inventory to assess effectiveness of the program.

What did the findings show about workshop impact on moral knowing and character components?

Explicit training had a positive impact on moral knowing for workshop attendees, while there was no statistically significant difference in social and moral character components between attendees and non-attendees.

Oct 15, 2026

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