An analysis of leadership qualities that influence male and female athletes in middle school interscholastic team sports

Leadership behavior styles are very important in the world of sports. Over the years, several studies have been conducted on the topic of leadership to determine if leadership behavior styles have contributed to the success of an athletic program or sports team. Furthermore, several studies have been conducted to determine if leadership behavior styles have any effect on the athletes ability to perform at optimal levels and to determine if the leadership behavior styles used by coaches could have a negative influence on the athlete, which in some cases could motivate the athlete to stop participating in athletics.;The purpose of this study was to determine what behavior styles of leadership do male and female athletes in middle school interscholastic team sports prefer their coaches' to use. This study will compare those behavior styles of leadership for males and females at their respective schools. This study compared males and females to determine if the preferred behavior styles of leadership are related.;The study consisted of male and female athletes from three different middle schools. The schools that participated in this study are Bastrop Middle School, Cedar Creek Middle School, and Elgin Middle School. Data was collected for this study by using the Leaders Scale of Sports (LSS) questionnaire with the permission of Dr. Chelladurai at Ohio State University. The athletic coordinators of each school were each given instructions in person prior to the questionnaire being mailed. The questionnaires were sent back in a self-addressed stamped envelope. Athletic coordinators at the respective schools received communication in person, phone, and e-mail. The data was analyzed quantitatively by using the 15.0 version of the SPSS statistical software. Several statistical tests were used to analyze the data. The Kruskal-Wallis is the non-analog test, an ANOVA, and this test was used to compare three or more medians among schools based on gender. In order to determine if there were differences between male and females concerning the median scores on the (LSS), the Mann-Whitney U statistical test was used to compare the median scores between male and females.;Results from this study detected a statistical significant difference in the leadership behavior styles by males and females among the middle schools between the dimensions of (1) democratic behavior and training and instruction, (2) autocratic behavior and training and instruction, (3) social support and training and instruction, (4) positive feedback and democratic behavior, (5) positive feedback and autocratic behavior, (6) positive feedback and social support. This study did detect a statistical significant difference between middle schools for the dimensions of autocratic behavior, training and instruction, and positive feedback. This study did not reveal a statistical significant difference among schools for the dimensions of democratic behavior and social support. Finally, the study detected the only significant difference between male and female athletes who participate in middle school interscholastic middle school teams sports in the five dimensions of leadership behavior was in training and instruction.;Results of this study indicated male and female coaches use different leadership behavior styles in dealing with male and female athletes in middle school interscholastic team sports. The results of this study did show female coaches seemed to be higher in using the training and instruction behavior style of leadership. This study does not determine which leadership behavior style is better for the overall success of an interscholastic middle school athletic program. What follows is the basis for this study, procedures to conduct the research, analysis of data, conclusions and recommendations to give other researchers the opportunity to conduct future research studies regarding this topic.