Examining the effect of coaches' unethical behavior on spearfishing athletes' away from morality in sports

The aim of the study was to examine the effect of coaches' unethical behaviors on the moral disengagement in sports among spearfishing athletes. In our study, the causal-comparative model, one of the quantitative research methods, was employed. The population of the research consists of athletes who participated in competitions on behalf of sports clubs in the spearfishing branch under the Turkish Underwater Sports Federation during the 2023–2024 season. The sample of the research consists of 134 athletes (n = 134), including 21 women and 113 men, who participated in the 2023–2024 Interclub and Individual Spearfishing Turkish Championships, which were included in the activity calendar of the Turkish Underwater Sports Federation. The sampling method used in the study was the simple random sampling technique, in which all spearfishing athletes had an equal and random chance of being included in the sample. This method was preferred as it enables results to be obtained quickly and easily. Within the scope of the research, data were collected using a personal information form prepared by the researcher (including variables such as gender, age, educational status, national athlete status, years of participation in sports, duration of working with the coach, whether the coach had an athletic background, and whether the athlete trusted the coach's knowledge and experience), along with the Short Form of the Moral Disengagement in Sport Scale (MDS-SF) and the Athlete's Perception of Coaches' Unethical Behaviors Scale (APCUBS). The scales and forms were transferred to an online platform, allowing spearfishing athletes to respond to the questions digitally. The data obtained were analyzed using the IBM SPSS Statistics 25.0 software. Within the scope of the research, distribution analysis, descriptive statistics, and parametric hypothesis tests-specifically independent samples t-test and One-Way ANOVA-were conducted. Additionally, Pearson correlation analysis was used to determine the relationships between the variables. When the general findings of the study are examined, it was found that the scores of spearfishing athletes on the Moral Disengagement in Sport Scale showed a statistically significant difference in relation to the variables of age and years of participation in sports. However, no significant differences were found based on gender, educational status, national athlete status, years of working with the coach, the coach's athletic background, or trust in the coach's knowledge and experience. Regarding the scores obtained from the Athlete's Perception of Coaches' Unethical Behaviors Scale, statistically significant differences were observed in relation to gender and age, while no significant differences were found for the variables of educational status, national athlete status, years of participation in sports, years of working with the coach, the coach's athletic background, or trust in the coach's knowledge and experience. Based on these findings, a statistically significant, positive, and low-level correlation was identified between the moral disengagement levels of spearfishing athletes and their perceptions of coaches' unethical behaviors-particularly in the sportsmanship sub-dimension and the total score of the Athlete's Perception of Coaches' Unethical Behaviors Scale (APCUBS).