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  • 标题:Examining the state social psychological health benefits of identifying with a distant sport team.
  • 作者:Wann, Daniel L. ; Polk, Josh ; Franz, Gentzy
  • 期刊名称:Journal of Sport Behavior
  • 印刷版ISSN:0162-7341
  • 出版年度:2011
  • 期号:May
  • 语种:English
  • 出版社:University of South Alabama
  • 摘要:One specific form of group membership that has gained the attention of social and sport scientists involves sport fans. According to several authors (e.g., Kelley & Tian, 2004; Melnick, 1993; Smith, 1988) sport fandom may have a positive impact on psychological health due to the social nature of the activity. Sport fandom is generally a social endeavor (Aveni, 1977; Crawford, 2004). Consequently, similar to other leisure activities (Glover, Parry, & Shinew, 2005; Maynard & Kleiber, 2005) it may lead to increased social capital (Crawford, 2004; Palmer & Thompson, 2007; Swyers, 2005). With respect to the relationship between fandom and social capital, Wann, Polk, and Weaver (2008) recently found empirical evidence for this effect as level of identification of one's college team (i.e., one's psychological connection to the team, see Wann, Melnick, Russell, & Pease, 2001) was positively related to several indices of social connections including percentage of fans who were friends, beliefs that fandom leads to new relationships with others, and a general sense of connectedness to the campus as a whole.
  • 关键词:Mental health;Sports psychology;Sports teams

Examining the state social psychological health benefits of identifying with a distant sport team.


Wann, Daniel L. ; Polk, Josh ; Franz, Gentzy 等


Humans appear to have a fundamental need to establish and maintain memberships in formal and informal groups (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). There are many potential benefits to these memberships (Knowles & Gardner, 2008), including the opportunity to acquire important social connections and a sense of belonging that, ultimately, can assist in the maintenance of well-being (Correll & Park, 2005). Indeed, membership in a variety of groups has been linked to well-being including stigmatized groups (Crocker & Major, 1989), religious organizations (Diener, Suh, Lucas, & Smith, 1999), and membership in high school peer groups (Brown & Lohr, 1987). In fact, this effect is so well documented that Compton (2005) concluded that "positive social relationships" comprised one of the "core variables that best predict happiness and satisfaction with life" (p. 48).

One specific form of group membership that has gained the attention of social and sport scientists involves sport fans. According to several authors (e.g., Kelley & Tian, 2004; Melnick, 1993; Smith, 1988) sport fandom may have a positive impact on psychological health due to the social nature of the activity. Sport fandom is generally a social endeavor (Aveni, 1977; Crawford, 2004). Consequently, similar to other leisure activities (Glover, Parry, & Shinew, 2005; Maynard & Kleiber, 2005) it may lead to increased social capital (Crawford, 2004; Palmer & Thompson, 2007; Swyers, 2005). With respect to the relationship between fandom and social capital, Wann, Polk, and Weaver (2008) recently found empirical evidence for this effect as level of identification of one's college team (i.e., one's psychological connection to the team, see Wann, Melnick, Russell, & Pease, 2001) was positively related to several indices of social connections including percentage of fans who were friends, beliefs that fandom leads to new relationships with others, and a general sense of connectedness to the campus as a whole.

In terms of the relationship between team fandom and well-being, several studies have supported the positive association between these variables. However, research indicates that it is not fandom that correlates with well-being but rather team identification (Wann, Dunham, Byrd, & Keenan, 2004; Wann & Pierce, 2005). For instance, team identification has been found to be positively related to social self-esteem and social well-being, vigor, extroversion, and frequency of positive emotions and negatively related to loneliness and alienation (Branscombe & Wann, 1991; Wann, 1994; Wann, Dimmock, & Grove, 2003; Wann et al., 2004; Wann, Inman, Ensor, Gates, & Caldwell, 1999; Wann & Pierce, 2005; see Wann, 2006a, for a review). In addition, this relationship has been found in different cultures (Wann, Dimmock, et al., 2003), in a variety of settings (Wann, Walker, Cygan, Kawase, & Ryan, 2005), and appears to be causal in nature (Wann, 2006b).

To better explain the process through which sport team identification and well-being are related, Wann (2006a) recently developed the Team Identification- Social Psychological Health Model. Wann argues that identification leads to well-being benefits not because of the identification per se, but because it results in increased social connections with others (Swyers, 2005). Two types of social connections (i.e., forms of social capital) are expected to result from sport team identification: enduring and temporary. Enduring social connections result when a fan lives in a community where other fans of the team are readily apparent and salient (e.g., a Chicago Cubs fan who lives in Chicago). Temporary social connections occur when a fan who does not reside in a community with enduring connections temporarily finds him or herself in the company of other fans of the team (e.g., a Chicago Cubs fan living in St. Louis who frequently watches Cubs games on television with several other Cubs fans). The increased social connections are then expected to increase social psychological well-being at either the state (temporary connections) or trait (enduring connections) level. The model also postulates that threats to social identity (e.g., poor team performance and player arrests) and subsequent strategic coping mechanisms (e.g., biased attributions) moderate the relationship between social connections and well-being.

Thus, there are several key components to the Team Identification--Social Psychological Health Model. Specifically, this model predicts: a) team identification will assist in the establishment and maintenance of temporary and enduring social connections, b) team identification will be positively correlated with social well-being, and c) the identification/well-being relationship will be moderated by social identity threats and attempts to cope with the threat. Research support for many of these predicted patterns is strong. For instance, with respect to the relationship between team identification and social connections (a), researchers have found that sport team identification is indeed related to the development and maintenance of social connections with others (Clopton, 2008; Wann et al., 2008). Further, as for the relationship between team identification and well-being (b), as noted above empirical work has consistently documented this pattern of effects (e.g., Wann, 2006a, 2006b; Wann, Dimmock, et al., 2003; Wann et al., 2004; Wann et al., 2005; Wann, 2006b). In addition, many studies have confirmed that the social identities of fans can be threatened (Hirt, Zillmann, Erickson, & Kennedy, 1992; Schwarz, Strack, Kommer, & Wagner, 1987; Schweitzer, Zillmann, Weaver, & Luttrell, 1992) and that fans utilize strategies designed to cope with the threats (c). For instance, fans can rely on biased attributions, biased predictions of future team performance, and biased evaluations of other fans to assist in their attempts to cope with poor player/team performance (End, Birchmeier, & Mueller, 2004; Wann, 2006a; Wann & Grieve, 2005).

Previous research on the relationship between team identification and social psychological health has almost exclusively focused on enduring social connections. That is, past efforts gave supported the notion fans living within the geographic environment containing a team exhibit a positive correlation between level of team identification and social well-being (e.g., Wann, Dimmock, et al., 2003; Wann et al., 2004). However, one area of Wann's (2006a) model that has not received sufficient attention involves the impact of temporary social connections. Such an examination was the focus of the current investigation. The aim of this study was directed at the psychological health of fans' support for a nonlocal team. Certainly, fans of nonlocal teams (often referred to as displaced fans or long distance fans) can have strong emotional attachments to their team even in the general absence of other fans of the team (Hughson & Free, 2006). These fans often maintain their allegiance after either the team has moved to another city (Foster & Hyatt, 2007; Hyatt, 2007) or the fans themselves have relocated (Kraszewski, 2008). Many of these fans attempt to maintain a community with other fans of the team via the Internet (Crawford, 2004) or by watching their team on television with other fans (Kraszewski, 2008).

As noted, Wann's (2006a) framework predicts that, in normal situations, fans of distant teams should not exhibit a positive relationship between level of team identification and trait social well-being found among fans of local teams because displaced fans do not reside in an environment containing enduring connections. That is, other fans of their team are not readily salient. Indeed, past research has supported the lack of relationship between level of identification with a distant team and well-being (Wann et al., 2004; Wann et al., 1999). However, the model states that fans of distant teams can receive benefits to their state levels of social well-being when they are in situations in which temporary social connections are salient (e.g., when they are watching their team on television with several other fans of their team). Consistent with other models and research in social and cognitive psychology (e.g., Robinson & Clore, 2002), the model predicts that these temporary connections will contribute to state, rather than trait, well-being because of the transient nature of the connections (i.e., momentary events have a greater impact on momentary well-being, see Oishi, Schimmack, & Diener, 2001).

Based on the pattern of effects predicted by Wann's (2006a) model, we hypothesized that when displaced fans are put in an environment with salient temporary connections (i.e., they are placed in an environment with other fans of their team), they will report increases in state social psychological health. However, Wann is somewhat unclear as to what, precisely, needs to be made salient for the effect to occur. Explicitly, the model suggests that the other fans need to be salient, stating, "In situations where the temporary connections are present but not salient (e.g., the fan of a displaced team is not aware that he or she is in the presence of other similarly displaced fans), identification would not be predicted to assist in the maintenance of well-being" (p. 277). Thus, it is apparent that knowledge of the presence of other fans is required. However, the model also implicitly suggests that, in addition to the salience of fellow fans of the team, a team-focused environment is also required for the effect to occur. That is, when describing the expected effect, Wann offers examples in which fans find themselves

in a situation in which their role as team follower would be highly salient (i.e., the team in question is salient). For example, Wann has suggested that the psychological benefits of temporary connections would occur when a displaced fan watches his or her favorite team on television with other similarly displaced fans (Wann, 2006a; Wann, Martin, Grieve, & Gardner, 2008). In such an environment, both the fellow fans of the team (i.e., social connections) and the role of team follower would be made salient. Thus, it appears that Wann's framework suggests that both variables are necessary. Therefore, we hypothesized that fans of a distant team would report increased levels of state social psychological health when placed into a situation in which both their role of team follower and other fans were salient. We tested this hypothesis by randomly assigning highly identified basketball fans (selected based on pre-testing of their identification with University of Kentucky basketball, a distant team) into one of four conditions in a 2 (Condition: group or alone) x 2 (Video: University of Kentucky Highlight Video or general sports highlight video) design. Subsequent to viewing one of the videos, participants completed measures designed to assess state levels of social well-being. Based on the Team Identification--Social Psychological Health Model (Wann, 2006a) and the reasoning described above, we expected only those participants watching the University of Kentucky video (i.e., team identification salient) in the group setting (i.e., social connections salient) to report the increased well-being effect. Persons in the other three conditions were not expected to exhibit increased social psychological health.

Method

Participants and Design

The Time 1 sample of participants contained 675 (219 male; 456 female) college students receiving extra course credit in exchange for participation. They had a mean age of 20.36 years (SD = 3.91). Participants returning for the Time 2 session were 71 (26 male; 45 female) college students choosing either extra course credit or $5.00 in exchange for participation. The Time 2 participants had a mean age of 19.14 years (SD = 1.07). The design for the study was a 2 (Condition: group or alone) x 2 (Video: University of Kentucky Highlight Video or general sports highlight video) between-subjects factorial. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions.

Materials and Procedure

Upon entering the Time 1 testing session and providing their consent, participants (tested in groups) were handed a questionnaire packet containing three sections. The first section contained demographic items assessing age, gender, name, phone number, and the last four digits of their social security number. The participant's name and number were needed to contact the individual for participation in Testing Session 2. The social security information was used to match the Time 1 and Time 2 questionnaires. The second section of the packet contained the Sport Spectator Identification Scale (SSIS; Wann & Branscombe, 1993). The SSIS contains seven Likert-scale items with response options ranging from I (low identification) to 8 (high identification). Thus, higher numbers represented greater levels of identification. The SSIS has been used in a number of studies involving sport fans and has strong reliability and validity (see Wann & Branscombe, 1993; Wann et al., 2001). Participants targeted the University of Kentucky (UK) men's basketball team completing the SSIS. This university is located approximately 265 miles from the participants' own university. A sample item from this scale read, "How important to you is it that the University of Kentucky men's basketball team wins?"

The third section of the protocol contained two established, reliable and valid instruments designed to assess specific components of social well-being. Specifically, this section included 8 items from the 16-item Collective Self-esteem Scale (CSES; Luhtanen & Crocker, 1991) and 20-item the UCLA Loneliness Scale (UCLALS: Russell, Peplau, & Cutrona, 1980). The CSES has been found to have strong concurrent validity via comparisons with other measures of well-being (e.g., r = .36 with the Rosenberg, 1965, Personal Self-esteem Scale) and adequate test-retest reliability (rs > .60 for a six-week interval) (Luhtanen & Crocker, 1992). The UCLALS also has strong psychometric qualities as this scale has high internal consistency (alphas > .90) and concurrent validity (e.g., r = .62 with Beck Depression Inventory, 1967). These measures were selected because they reflect the type of well-being in question based on the Team Identification--Social Psychological Health Model. That is, these scales assess components of social well-being (Keyes, 1998; Keyes & Lopez, 2001) and they have been used successfully in past research investigating the social well-being of sport fans (Wann, 1994; Wann et al., 2005). Further, these inventories are appropriate for college student populations (Luhtanen & Crocker, 1992; Russell et al., 1980).

The items of each of these scales were worded to reflect trait levels of social well-being. For instance, the items contained words such as "usually" (e.g., "I'm usually glad to be a member of the social groups I belong to"). Both questionnaires were scored so that higher numbers reflected more positive levels of social well-being (e.g., lower levels of loneliness and higher levels of collective self-esteem). The Time 1 CSES response options ranged from 1 (low collective self-esteem) to 7 (high collective self-esteem) and, therefore, had a potential range of 8 to 56. The Time 1 UCLALS response options ranged from 1 (high loneliness) to 4 (low loneliness) and, thus, had a potential range of 20 to 80. After completing their Time 1 questionnaire packet (approximately 20 minutes), participants were debriefed and excused from the testing session.

Approximately 8 weeks after the conclusion of the Time 1 testing sessions, participants scoring greater than 30 on the SSIS were contacted via phone and asked if they would be willing to return for a second testing session (a minimum SSIS score of 31 was chosen to ensure that all Time 2 participants scored above the mid-point on the scale). A total of 71 participants agreed to return and were given information on date, time, and location for the second session. Upon arriving at the Time 2 session, participants in the group and alone conditions were randomly assigned to view either a University of Kentucky Highlight Video or general sports highlight video. Participants in all conditions were informed that they had been chosen to participate in the Time 2 session because they had high levels of identification with UK men's basketball. In the group versus alone conditions, participants either watched a video in a group setting or alone. Participants in the group condition were allowed to talk and/ or respond vocally to the video (e.g., cheer a specific play) but they were not specifically instructed to do so (i.e., conversations among participants and responses to the videos were neither encouraged nor discouraged). In the UK video condition, subjects watched a highlight video titled "Comeback Cats." The Official 1998 NCAA Championship Video" which was approximately 45 minutes in length. This video was intended to tender the participants' team identification salient (given that past research had found a link between nostalgia and team identification, such a manipulation was justified, see Gladden & Funk, 2002). In the control condition, participants viewed a general sports highlight video titled "Great Sports Memories" which was approximately 30 minutes in length. The University of Kentucky was not featured in the control video.

After watching the video, participants in all conditions were asked to list the last four digits of their social security number (for matching purposes) and to complete a short questionnaire packet assessing their state level of social psychological health. Specifically, they were again asked to complete 8 (different) items from the 16-item Collective Self-esteem Scale (CSES; Luhtanen & Crocker, 1991) and the 20-item the UCLA Loneliness Scale (UCLALS: Russell et al., 1980). (1) The items on each of these scales were worded to reflect state levels of social well-being because, according to the Team Identification--Social Psychological Health Model (Wann, 2006a), temporary social connections should impact state, rather than trait, levels of well-being. For instance, the items contained words such as "right now" (e.g., "Right now I feel good about the social groups I belong to"). Once again, both questionnaires were scored so that higher numbers reflected more positive levels of social well-being (e.g., lower levels of loneliness and higher levels of collective self-esteem) and each questionnaire had the same responses options and potential range of scores as was used in Time 1. After watching the video and completing their Time 2 questionnaire packet (approximately 45 minutes), participants were debriefed and excused from the testing session.

Results

Preliminary Analyses

Items contained in each scale were summed to establish scale scores for each measure. The means, standard deviations, and Cronbach's reliability alphas for each scale are listed in Table 1. To insure that the participants who returned for the Time 2 session did not differ in social well-being from those who did not, a pair of one-way Analyses of Variance (ANOVAs) were computed in which Time 1 CSES and Time 1 UCLALS served as the dependent variables and "returned" or "did not return" served as the grouping variable. These analyses failed to indicate any significant differences between those who did and those who did not choose to return (all ps > .05). (2)

To simplify the analyses, scores on the Time 1 CSES were subtracted from scores on the Time 2 CSES to acquire a difference (i.e., change) measure of collective self-esteem. Similarly, scores on the Time 1 UCLALS were subtracted from scores on the Time 2 UCLALS to acquire a difference measure of loneliness. (3) Thus, for these difference measures, higher numbers indicate improved social psychological health at Time 2.

The potential impact of gender was assessed through three one-way ANOVAs in which team identification (SSIS) and the psychological health difference scores (i.e., CSES and UCLALS) served as the dependent variables and gender was used as the grouping variable. The ANOVA on identification did reveal a significant effect in which male participants (M = 44.73, SD = 6.65) reported higher SSIS scores than did female participants (M= 40.04, SD = 6.86), F(1, 69) = 7.87, p < .01. However, the analyses of the psychological health difference scores did not reveal a significant gender effect for either index (p > .05). Further, gender was not involved in any significant main or interaction effects in the ANOVAs described below on the CSES and UCLALS difference scores. Thus, subsequent analyses were computed across gender.

Finally, a 2 (Condition: group or alone) x 2 (Video: University of Kentucky Highlight Video or general sports highlight video) factorial ANOVA was computed with team identification as the dependent variable to insure that participants in each of the four conditions did not vary with respect to level of identification with the UK team. This analysis failed to find any significant main or interaction effects for level of identification (all ps > .05). Thus, participants in each of the four conditions were similar in the level of identification for the target team.

The Impact of Condition and Video on Change in Social Psychological Health

Based on the Team Identification--Social Psychological Health Model (Wann, 2006a), it was hypothesized that when they were placed into an environment in which their team identification and social connections to others were made salient, highly identified fans would report improved levels of state social psychological health. Highly identified fans in conditions in which their identification and/or connections to others were not salient were not expected to exhibit such a well-being increase. Thus, in the current investigation, we expected only those participants watching the UK video (i.e., team identification salient) in the group setting (i.e., social connections salient) to report the increased well-being effect. Persons in the other three conditions (i.e., UK video/alone, control video/group, or control video/alone) were not expected to exhibit increased social psychological health.

Scores on the CSES and UCLALS difference measures were first examined through a pair of 2 (Condition: group or alone) x 2 (Video: University of Kentucky Highlight Video or general sports highlight video) between-subjects factorial ANOVAs. Next, the specific patterns of

hypothesized effects were investigating through a pair of one-way ANOVAs with planned contrasts in which cell (UK video/group, UK video/alone, control video/group, or control video/alone) served as the independent variable and the social psychological health difference measures served as the two dependent variables (see Table 2 for cell sizes, means, and standard deviations). The contrasts reflected the hypothesized pattern of effects (i.e., higher psychological health difference scores among participants in the UK video/group condition versus those in the other three cells).

With respect to CSES scores, the 2 x 2 ANOVA failed to reveal a significant effect for condition, F(1,67) = 0.00, p > .90. However, the main effect for video was significant, F(1, 67) = 7.57, p < .01. Participants watching the UK video (M= 3.51, SD = 4.63) reported more improvement in collective self-esteem than persons watching the control video, (M= 0.44, SD = 4.62). The two-way interaction was hot significant, F(1, 67) = 0.0 1, p > .90. With respect to the one-way analysis with planned contrasts, the contrast test was not significant, t(67) = 1.70, p > .05. An examination of Table 2 reveals that each condition fell into the expected pattern of effects with the exception of the UK video/alone condition, in which participants reported higher than expected difference scores.

As for UCLALS scores, the 2 x 2 ANOVA failed to reveal a significant main effect for both condition, F(1, 67) = 1.25, p > .20, and video, F(1, 67) = 3.10, p > .05. Likewise, the two-way interaction was not significant, F(1, 67) = 1.33, p > .20. With respect to the one-way analysis with planned contrasts, the contrast test was significant, t(67) = 2.35, p < .05. An examination of Table 2 reveals that each condition fell into the expected pattern of effects. Specifically, participants in the UK video/group condition reported higher state well-being scores than those in the other three conditions.

Discussion

According to the Team Identification--Social Psychological Health Model (Wann, 2006a), team identification should be positively associated with social well-being when the identification produces social connections. In the current investigation we examined temporary connections. A previously understudied component of Wann's model (Wann, 2006b), temporary connections occur when displaced fans (i.e., fans who do not reside in the locale where the team is found) temporarily find themselves in the company of other fans of the team. Based on Wann's framework, we hypothesized that highly identified University of Kentucky men's basketball fans watching a University of Kentucky basketball highlight video (i.e., team identification salient) in a group setting (i.e., social connections salient) would report increased social well-being. Support for the hypothesized pattern of effects was found for loneliness but not for collective self-esteem. That is, persons in the group/University of Kentucky video condition reported greater decreases in loneliness than persons in the other three conditions (as expected). However, for collective self-esteem, only a video main effect emerged in which participants reported greater increases in social self-esteem in the University of Kentucky video condition.

In terms of improved social well-being, an examination of Table 2 reveals that for state loneliness a combination of a salient team identity and salient social connections resulted in better social psychological health (i.e., lower levels of loneliness). If either of these components were absent, significant changes in loneliness were not found. Thus, it appears that for this dimension of social well-being, both the role of team follower and social connections are necessary. Thus, as noted by other authors (Branscombe, Ellemers, Spears, & Doosje, 1999), it is critical that the social connections (i.e., other fans) be rendered salient. Simply focusing the fan's attention on his or her role of team follower will not suffice to improve loneliness, as indicated by the lack of change among those in the University of Kentucky video/alone condition. Likewise, simply rendering other fans of the team salient without the salience of the relevant identity does not lead to improved loneliness, as indicated by the lack of change in the control video/group condition. Only when both factors were made salient did loneliness significantly change.

However, with respect to collective self-esteem, only the salience of the role of team follower was needed for improved well-being. Participants in both the alone and group conditions reported increased collective self-esteem subsequent to watching the highlight video. This finding may have been due to the video itself. Because the team follower role was made salient via a highlight video, participants in this condition were reminded not only of their role as team supporter, but also of the long history and tradition of success for the University of Kentucky men's basketball program. This may have been at least partially responsible for the increases in social self-esteem noted. It would be interesting for future researchers to replicate the current investigation with a video depicting different (i.e., less successful) performances. Perhaps participants could view sections of games involving the target team in which the team performs very poorly or view a neutral team video, that is, one with neither particularly poor nor successful team performance. The impact of these videos would an important next step in this line of investigation given that Wann's (2006a) model suggests that both a salient team identity and salient social connections were required for state social well-being increases. In the current work, although this was the case for state loneliness, it was not so for state collective self-esteem. Given that the championship video used here could have been the antecedent to the increases in collective self-esteem, the viewing of videos with different content would be an obvious choice for future researchers wanting to replicate the current effect. Based on the Team Identification--Social Psychological Health Model (Wann, 2006a) and the results reported above, it may be that viewing such a video in a group condition (relative to a non-team video) would result in increased loneliness regardless of the video content (i.e., regardless of team performance). However, collective self-esteem would remain unchanged by a neutral video while a negative performance video would result in lowered collective self-esteem.

That the hypothesis was supported for only one of the two dependent measures has several important implications. First, this may simply have been due to the fact that temporary social connections are more associated with certain dimensions of social well-being and not others. This is consistent with work on enduring connections in which these connections have been round to be more associated with some dimensions (e.g., social integration) than others (e.g., social acceptance, see Wann & Weaver, 2009). However, it could also be the case that the well-being effect for temporary connections may be less robust than for enduring connections. That is, although not every dimension of social well-being has been round to correlate with team identification (Wann & Weaver, 2009), the list of dimensions that are related is quite long and impressive (e.g., social self-esteem, social well-being, extroversion, loneliness, and alienation; see Wann, 2006a, for a review). Perhaps the list of forms of social well-being that are related to temporary connections is fewer than that for enduring connections. Future research assessing the relationships among temporary connections and other forms of social well-being is needed to determine which explanation has the greatest merit.

Although the current experiment is a valuable first step in furthering our understanding of the impact of temporary social connections, there is still much that remains unknown about this phenomenon. For instance, the precise number of other fans needed to produce the effect remains unknown. In the current investigation, the groups ranged in size from 15 to 19. While this number was significant to produce the hypothesized effect (for loneliness), the minimum number required is not known. In addition, further researchers may want to investigate the duration of the effect. In the study described above, the assessment of state well-being took place immediately subsequent to the viewing of the video and in the presence of the other group members. Although certain persons reported lower levels of state loneliness, it is unclear how long this effect would last. Certainly, the effect would not be expected to be permanent, but the exact length could be determined through longitudinal research (e.g., researchers could assess social well-being at multiple times after the group has dispersed). Based on Wann's (2006a) model, one would likely expect the effect to last only as long as the other fans are present, but additional work is needed to validate this hypothesis.

Future researchers may also want to better articulate what is meant by a displaced/ distant fan. Wann (2006a) does not give a precise operational definition of local versus distant fans. Wann and Martin (2008) attempted to define these constructs. They operationally defined a local fan as someone who supported a team in the local county. Other perspectives could involve media coverage or precise mileage, to name but a few. These definitions are important because Wann's framework predicts different behaviors from local and distant fans (i.e., local fans have the opportunity for enduring connections while displaced fans do not).

In conclusion, the current investigation was an attempt to test Wann's (2006a) Team Identification--Social Psychological Health Model. Specifically, we examined the relationship between temporary social connections and social psychological well-being. Interestingly, the model was supported for one operational definition of well-being, loneliness, but not for the other, collective self-esteem. As mentioned earlier, this may have been due to the nature of the video itself. However, it is also possible that Wann's model may need to be adjusted with respect to temporary connections and there impact on well-being. That is, perhaps the model needs to specific which dimensions of well-being will be improved by temporary connections (e.g., state loneliness) and those that will not (e.g., state collective self-esteem).

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Daniel L. Wann, Josh Polk, and Gentzy Franz

Murray State University

Address correspondence to: Daniel L. Wann, Department of Psychology, Murray State University, Murray, KY 4207 I. E-mail: [email protected]

Footnotes

(1) Because previous work had successfully split the CSE into two halves for use in a pretest-posttest design (Branscombe & Wann, 1994), we did so here as well. However, because research had hot attempted to split the UCLALS into two parts, we used the entire 20-item scale at each testing session.

(2) Although not directly related to the current study and hypotheses, we also examined the relationship between level of identification and Time 1 social psychological health (i.e., CSES and UCLALS scores) for all participants. According to the Team Identification--Social Psychological Health Model (Wann, 2006a), one would not expect a significant relationship between these variables due to the lack of enduring social connections. These analyses indicated a small but statistically significant correlation between identification and Time 1 CSES, r(673) =. 101, p < .05, and no relationship between identification and scores on the UCLALS, r(673) = .066,p > .05. While the correlation between identification and CSES was statistically significant, the amount of variance accounted for was only 1%. The lack of statistically significant relationship with one measure (UCLALS) and a very weak relationship with another (i.e., although statistically significant, the lack of variance accounted for in the relationship between identification and CSES indicates a lack of practical significance) suggest support for the Team Identification--Social Psychological Health Model with respect to the lack of enduring social connections of social psychological well-being.

(3) The Time 1 CSES and UCLALS questionnaires were significantly correlated, r(69) = .410, p < .001, as were scores on the Time 2 assessments of the CSES and UCLALS, r(69) = .489, p<.001.
Table 1. Means, Standard Deviations, and Cronbach's Reliability Alphas
for the Dependent Measures.

Measure                                          Mean     SD     Alpha

Team Identification (all participants)           19.47   13.77    .962
Team Identification (Time 2 participants only)   41.76    7.11    .805
CSES Time 1 (all participants)                   43.43    6.16    .741
CSES Time 1 (Time 2 participants only)           44.93    5.24    .695
CSES Time 2                                      46.97    4.82    .662
UCLALS Time 1 (all participants)                 67.56    9.12    .913
UCLALS Time 1 (Time 2 participants only)         69.82    8.09    .908
UCLALS Time 2                                    71.10    8.11    .914

Table 2. Cell Sizes, Means and Standard Deviations for the CSES and
UCLALS Difference Scores by Condition

                             UK    Video    Control   Video

                          Group    Alone     Group    Alone

n per condition              18       19        15       19
CSES difference score      3.61     3.42      0.40     0.47
                          (4.26)   (5.07)    (5.73)   (3.69)
UCLALS difference score    4.06     0.90      0.00     0.05
                          (5.21)   (4.86)    (7.34)   (5.96)

Note: Standard deviations appear in parentheses below each mean.
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