Running head : TRASH TALK EXPERIENCES Trash Talk Experiences of College Athletes

While there has been considerable controversy about trash talk in sport, there have been very few empirical studies of this phenomenon. The purpose of this study was to investigate the trash talk experiences of collegiate athletes. Surveys were completed by 414 male and female NCAA Division I and Division III athletes. Athletes responded to questions about how frequently they used trash talk, how frequently they were the targets of trash talk, the content of the trash talk, their motivations for trash talking, who taught them how to trash talk, and circumstances would influence their use of trash talk. On average, athletes reported using and being targeted with trash talk in about one third of competitions. Their reported reasons for trash talking were to motivate themselves and hinder the performance of opponents, and they were most likely to attempt to do this by belittling the skill and toughness of their opponents. Athletes reported that coaches who discourage the use of trash talk and officials who penalize trash talk only slightly decrease the behavior. There was a consistent tendency for males to report more trash talk than females and for Division I athletes to report more than Division III athletes. Authors conclude that there is a normative rule favoring trash talk among collegiate athletes.