Male High School Sport Participation and Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration in Adulthood

Abstract

Using data from the Add Health, the authors consider whether male high school sport participation had an association with intimate partner violence perpetration into adulthood, controlling for other known predictors. Results show that sport participation is associated with a reduced risk of perpetrating intimate partner violence in adulthood, which the authors interpret as generally supportive of the deterrence hypothesis, the notion that playing sport promotes prosocial values, increases supervision, and increases bonding to conventional institutions that lower the risk of engaging in violent behavior against women. However, the inclusion of measures representing this hypothesis failed to attenuate the sport participation–intimate partner violence association, raising questions about whether the deterrence hypothesis is the appropriate explanation.