Identify the factors affecting violence and aggression

Aggression and violence are known as global dilemmas and have destructive physical and mental impacts on social and individual levels (2). Experts have emphasized the need for research in the field of violence and aggression to identify the factors that cause and motivate it, as well as providing preventive solutions, and have stated that identifying and explaining violence and aggression or choosing location have provided the best intervention strategy to control and prevent them. (3) Violent and abnormal behavior by athletes, spectators, coaches, and officials of sports teams such as basketball, wrestling, volleyball, football, and futsal are one of the main problems of these sports, which in addition to economic problems and losses, in terms of moral, social, cultural and political also cause great harm (4) Regardless of whether it is a team or an individual, the sport has examples of social processes that include competition, aberration, status relations, sociability, social exchange, cooperation, control, conflict, resource allocation, adaptation, group performance, aggression, and violence (5). However, it should be noted that these processes have different quality and quantity among different sports. The atmosphere of sporting events and competitions puts spectators in an emotional state in which experiencing this type of emotion can lead to emotions and behaviors that are referred to as violence or aggression (7, 6). Stadium violence is both a crime and contrary to certain sports norms. Various factors such as security forces, athletes, coaches, spectators, referees, and club officials can play a direct and indirect role in causing violence in stadiums (11). Among the influential factors in causing stadium and spectator violence, they have attracted more attention and are more visible. Considering that wrestling is the most honorable sport in Iran and also it is a sport in which heroic ethics and character play the first role and the occurrence of violence and immorality can hinder the development and growth of this sport among those who are interested in it and that no research has been done on determining and prioritizing the factors affecting the violence of wrestling spectators, so the researcher has decided to design the effective factors of violence in sports stadiums according to quantitative and qualitative factors; thus, the aim of this study is to investigate the factors affecting the incidence of violence and aggression in wrestling competitions.

The method of the present research is descriptive survey research and is applied in terms of purpose, which was conducted cross-sectionally. In accordance with the stages of the mentioned research strategy, the researcher has referred to the subject experts in the qualitative stage of the research to collect data; the statistical population of the qualitative stage included 12 experts and specialists aware of wrestling, including coaches, champions, referees and officials of the wrestling federation. Due to the fact that the researcher did not have direct access to the experts in question at the beginning, as a result, by identifying the first person, an attempt was made to identify and conduct interviews with other wrestling experts and specialists in the target cities. The statistical population also included a small number of spectators participating in the junior, youth, and adult wrestling championship teams across the country. In the sampling section, the provinces of Tehran, Khuzestan, Mazandaran, Khorasan, and Isfahan were randomly selected from the active provinces of the whole country. In order to test the obtained effectiveness model, the indicators obtained from the quality section were distributed among 220 spectators of the Premier Wrestling League in selected provinces (Tehran, Khuzestan, Mazandaran, Khorasan and Isfahan). The collection tool in this study was a researcher-made questionnaire that was based on the indicators extracted from the qualitative interviews. This questionnaire contains 73 items. To answer these items, a very low to very high Likert scale was used. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to assess the reliability of the research questionnaire using SPSS 24 software. To test the proposed measurement models to determine the dimensions affecting violence and aggression in wrestling competitions from exploratory factor analysis by principal component analysis and structural equations including first and second place confirmatory factor analysis by SmartPLS software used.

The proposed model extracted in the qualitative part by interview and coding including four factors (managerial, behavioral, social, and cultural) were used, respectively. In the validation stage, by Cronbach's alpha, for a sample of 220 people, 3 indicators were excluded from the general model due to low validity, and instead of 73 indicators, 70 indicators were evaluated. The results showed that behavioral, managerial, cultural, and social factors are among the causes of violence and aggression in wrestling competitions. In comparing the factor loads of the dimensions of violence, respectively, the importance of the impact of the behavioral management dimension is followed by the managerial dimension, the cultural dimension, and finally the social dimension. In the behavioral factors, the components had a greater effect on violence and aggression in wrestling competitions, respectively, the behavior of athletes and the behavior of spectators. In the managerial factors, the components, respectively, the management of the competition, the conditions of the competition, facilities and services, electronic equipment, and finally the security atmosphere system had a greater impact on violence and aggression in wrestling.

One of the effective factors in the occurrence of violence and aggression is the behavior of athletes. According to the theory of instinctive aggression, internal aggression is a genetic component and exercise is an acceptable and effective means to get rid of factors related to violence and aggression. Those with a strong competitive nature are more likely to explore opportunities and have a greater motivation to reach them. It should be noted, however, that having a competitive personality trait cannot predict an individual's responses; thus, those with a winning personality behave more aggressively than other people. Therefore, it is believed that the more the athlete is able to understand, accurately express, regulate and identify emotions, the more he will have thinking habits that will make him more efficient and improve his performance (18). Other causes of violence and aggression are spectator behavior. According to the theory of instinctive behavior, aggression and violence by spectators during or after sports matches are a symbolic display of aggressive energy that, if suppressed, occurs in the context of society and rates, and will increase violent crime and violent behavior in other social arenas. In this regard, failure to achieve goals leads to various behaviors, one of which is aggression. According to this theory, the vandalistic and mobster behaviors of spectators are largely the result of their failure to achieve their goals during competitions (22). Finally, other factors influencing the occurrence of violence and aggression are psychosocial phenomena that can be manifested in emotional environments. Examining the favorable social contexts in wrestling can be considered as a sociological study that allows the identification of social factors affecting sports and violence (25). According to the theory of social learning, a person's behavior is formed through observation and during socialization and role modeling. According to Bandara, by observing violent and undesirable behaviors from family, media, peers, people learn what violence is and how to deal with it, then they are more likely to implement this behavior in their personal lives, even in social lives (26). Therefore, in order to prevent the occurrence of violence, in addition to creating a culture, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of violence in sports events by increasing the quality of competitions.