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| National Survey of Sports Teams |
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| Who is Most at Risk? Where are Hot Spots? |
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Every athlete was at risk of being hazed. Some athletes,
however, were at higher risk than were others. Using
chi-square analysis, we determined at a confidence
level of 99% the athletes most at risk of being hazed
to join a team. They were:
- Male
- Non-Greek
- Swimmers or divers
- Soccer players
- Lacrosse players
- In the east or south
- On a rural campus
- On a residential campus
- On a campus with a Greek system
- In a state with no anti-hazing law
Having learned, in general, which athletes were
most likely to be hazed, we then analyzed the risk
by category of athletes. The results are:
Type of behavior: Earlier in this report, we divided
initiation behaviors into four groups based on
severity. Below we describe which athletes were
most at risk at each level of severity.
Unacceptable Initiation: Athletes most at risk of
being subjected to unacceptable initiation activities,
regardless of the involvement of alcohol, were:
- men
- swimmers, divers, football players or water polo
players
- students at southern or midwestern institutions
Alcohol-Related Initiation: Athletes most at risk
of being subjected to alcohol-related initiation,
but not other unacceptable initiation activities,
were:
- women (6)
- lacrosse players
- students at eastern or western institutions
Questionable Initiation: Athletes most at risk
of being subjected to questionable, but not unacceptable,
initiation activities were:
- football players
- students at campuses in the south or west
Acceptable Initiation: Athletes most likely to
be involved in only acceptable initiation were:
- women
- members of a Greek organization
- members of track, fencing, or tennis teams
- students at midwestern or western urban, commuter
campuses
Different profiles emerge as we look closer at
athletes who are involved in alcohol-related initiations,
specifically alcohol on recruitment visits and
drinking contests, regardless of their involvement
in other types of behavior.
Alcohol on Recruitment: Athletes most at risk
of consuming alcohol on recruitment were:
- Division I scholarship athletes
- members of swimming, diving, lacrosse, football,
or soccer teams
- students at rural, residential campuses in eastern
states without anti-hazing laws
Sex: There were clear differences in the way men
and women initiate new members onto an athletic
team.
Women were more likely than men to be involved
in acceptable initiation activities: participating
in preseason practice, taking oaths, keeping a
higher GPA, doing volunteer work, completing a
ropes course, dressing up for team functions and
participating in other team-building activities.
The ropes course (a professionally designed outdoors
challenge course) or team trip demonstrates the
biggest contrast: 43 percent of the women as opposed
to 29 percent of the men.
Women were as likely or nearly as likely to participate
in some initiation activities as men, as shown
on the table below.
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| Initiation Activities with Comparable Male/Female Participation Rates
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| Initiation
Activities |
Male
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(n) |
Female
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(n) |
Total |
(n) |
| Participating
in calisthenics not related to a sport |
14% |
125 |
11% |
127 |
13% |
253 |
| Associating
with specific people, not others |
12% |
101 |
11% |
124 |
11% |
226 |
| Acting
as personal servant to players off the field,
court |
10% |
85 |
8% |
95 |
9% |
181 |
| Depriving
oneself of food, sleep, or hygiene |
7% |
56 |
8% |
85 |
7% |
141 |
| Consuming
extremely spicy/disgusting concoctions |
8% |
69 |
5% |
60 |
6% |
129 |
| Participating in drinking contests |
35% |
302 |
34% |
387 |
35% |
693 |
| Making
prank calls or harassing others |
12% |
105 |
8% |
91 |
10% |
197 |
| Engaging in or simulating sexual acts |
7% |
64 |
5% |
52 |
6% |
116 |
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| For other
activities, there are clear differences between men
and women. Men are consistently more likely than women
to be subjected to any one of the questionable or unacceptable
activities, except wearing embarrassing clothing. Men
were notably more likely than women to be yelled, cursed,
or sworn at as part of their initiation.
Women were much less likely than men to be subjected
to unacceptable acts: destroying or stealing property,
beating up others, being tied up or taped, being
confined in small places, being paddled, beaten,
kidnapped or transported and abandoned.
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| Initiation
Activities with Dissimilar Male/Female Participation
Rates |
| Initiation
Activities |
Male
877 |
Female
1142 |
Total 2027 |
| Wearing
embarrassing clothing |
22% |
33% |
29% |
| Being
yelled, cursed, or sworn at |
38% |
25% |
31% |
| Consuming
alcohol on recruitment visits |
42% |
39% |
42% |
| Participating
in a drinking contest |
35% |
34% |
35% |
| Destroying
or stealing property |
11% |
5% |
7% |
| Being
tied up, taped, or confined in small space |
8% |
3% |
5% |
| Being
paddled, whipped, beaten, kicked, beating others |
5% |
1% |
3% |
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| Sports: Swimmers
or divers and lacrosse, soccer, football, hockey and
water polo players were significantly more likely to
be subjected to a greater number of questionable and
unacceptable initiation activities than any other athletes.
Football is the only sport that had a relatively
low response rate among athletes. Football players
who did respond reported higher levels of hazing
behavior for other college groups than for their
own collegiate athletic team. Still, football players
were more likely to be involved with most of the
unacceptable initiation activities and the questionable
activities, but not the alcohol-related activities.
Overall, athletes in track, fencing, and golf were
significantly less likely to be hazed. In addition,
cross-country, basketball, rowing, and tennis were
significantly less involved with alcohol and other
unacceptable activities.
Percentage
of Student Athletes by Sport and Initiation Activity (PDF format - will need Adobe Acrobat reader
to read).
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| NCAA
Div. |
%
Hazed |
%
Total Population |
| Division
I |
41 |
42 |
| Division
II |
22 |
21 |
| Division
III |
37 |
37 |
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| Greek
and other campus organizations: Although this study does
not focus on Greek initiation rites, each athlete was
asked if he or she was a member of a Greek organization
and if there was a Greek system on campus. Based upon
reported behavior, this study found that non-Greek
athletes were most at risk for athletic hazing. This
study also found that Greek athletes were significantly
more likely than non-Greeks to report they had participated
in acceptable initiation rites exclusively. However,
the presence of a Greek system on campus was highly
correlated with questionable and unacceptable initiations
among collegiate athletes.
In comparing athletic hazing to hazing by other
groups, we relied upon respondents who identified
themselves as hazing victims, which is a very small
group compared to those who were involved in hazing
behavior. Further study is needed to clarify the
prevalence of hazing among members of various student
groups for various collegiate organizations.
The survey showed that some students were hazed
by more than one group. Athletes were asked: 1) if
they had ever been hazed for collegiate athletics
and 2) if they had ever been hazed for another group.
Twenty percent of student athletes reported that
they were hazed in college, of whom:
- 12 percent reported that teammates hazed them
- 12 percent reported that members of non-athletic
groups hazed them
- 4 percent reported that both teammates and members
of non-athletic groups hazed them
Athletes reported being hazed by teammates as often
as they reported being hazed by fraternities, sororities
or other groups. So even though it has received far
less attention, hazing to join college teams may
be just as prevalent as hazing is to join other organizations,
including fraternities and sororities.
Coaches and administrators ages 20 – 39 were more
likely than any other group of respondents to report
being hazed to join an athletic team, whereas coaches
and administrators ages 40 and older were more likely
to report having been hazed by another group. Whether
this suggests a long-term trend in hazing behavior
is a subject for further study.
Geographic Variations: Alcohol-related hazing was
most common on eastern, rural, residential campuses.
Athletes involved in only acceptable initiation activities
were found to be primarily from midwestern and western,
urban, commuter campuses. Still, the unacceptable
activities were more prevalent on southern or midwestern
campuses and the questionable activities were more
likely to occur on southern or western campuses.
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| (6) While there
were fewer women overall involved in hazing activities,
if women did participate in hazing, it was more likely
to be alcohol-related. |
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