Relationship between Sport Achievement Orientation and Views on Sport Rivalry among High School Athletes

The purpose of this study was to clarify the structure of high school student athletes’ views on sport rivalry and to further clarify the relationship between achievement orientation and views on sport rivalry. We extracted categories of maladaptive views on sport rivalry using a preliminary survey with a focus group interview. The extracted categories were added to Ota’s (2004) rivalry scale as question items. Ota’s rivalry scale and Wakayama et al.’s (2002) sport achievement orientation scale were then administered to 351 high school athletes. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted on the rivalry scale, and four factors were extracted: bidirectionality and reciprocity, environment-induced rivalry, competitive awareness, and anti-morality. A path analysis of the effects of the four factors of achievement orientation on the four factors of sport rivalry was conducted. It revealed that high task goal orientation and competitive participation orientation led to bidirectional and reciprocal views on sport rivalry. It was also found that high victory orientation led to an anti-moralistic view on sport rivalry. Therefore, aiming to achieve task goals and enjoying participating in competition, rather than aiming solely for victory, can enhance adaptive competitiveness between sport rivals.