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The current investigation tested the impact of level of team identification and level of self esteem on sport fans' self presentations. Participants were asked to read a description of a fellow student who was described as a die-hard fan of a rival team. The participants were then asked to provide a self description to be given to the fellow student. The participants then completed a measure of their identification with a sport team and a measure of their self= esteem. Regression analyses revealed that level of identification was a significant predictor of whether or not a person's self description mentioned their fandom. Among those persons mentioning their fandom, level of self esteem was a significant predictor of how soon they mentioned the trait. Discussion centers on suggestions for future research on the self presentational tactics of sport fans.
Social scientists have been interested in the self presentational (i.e., impression management) strategies of athletes for a number of years. This area of research indicates that the self presentational concerns of athletes can impact their behavior in a number of ways. For instance, as noted by Leary (1992), individuals may select a specific athletic endeavor because they wish to present themselves in a manner that is consistent with the stereotypical traits associated with persons participating in these activities. Self-presentation also may play a role in decisions to begin an exercise program (Hart, Leary, & Rejeski, 1989; Leary, 1992), decisions about athletic settings (Leary,1992), athletic performance (Bond,1982; Bond & Titus,1983; Leary, 1992), the selection of one's teammates (Warm, 1997), and athlete violence (Foley,1990; Wann, 1997).
Although researchers have diligently examined the self-presentational concerns of athletes, the self-presentational processes of sport fans have received less attention. Studies that have been conducted tend to focus on the relationship between competition outcome and fans' tendencies to modify their association with a team (Cialdini et al.,1976; Cialdini & De Nicholas,1989; Wann,1993; Wann & Branscombe, 1990). However, similar to athletes, there should be a variety of factors that impact the self presentational concerns of sport fans. That is, rather than only managing their impression as a function of competition outcome, other factors also should be related to revealing or concealing information about one's association with a team. This possibility was the focus...