Audience Responses to Media Portrayals of Professional Athletes and Intimate Partner Violence

Nicky Lewis, Jennifer A. Scarduzio, Christina S. Walker, Anthony M. Limperos

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study examines audience responses to media portrayals of athlete-perpetrated intimate partner violence (IPV). Participants (N = 569) were randomly assigned to view one of ten video news stories involving an incident of athlete-perpetrated IPV. They reported their perceptions of news story severity, perpetrator responsibility, and victim credibility post-viewing. In general, stories featuring White perpetrators were rated as more severe than stories featuring Black perpetrators. For moderately violent stories, victims of White and Latino athletes were rated as more credible than victims of Black athletes. Implications for a better understanding of athlete-perpetrated IPV and social outcomes are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)135-155
Number of pages21
JournalCommunication and Sport
Volume11
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.

Keywords

  • athletes
  • audiences
  • intimate partner violence
  • media
  • sports

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Communication
  • Social Sciences (miscellaneous)

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