Preliminary study on the prevalence of workplace psychological terror among Hungarian athletes

The article primarily examines sport as an atypical workplace, highlighting various forms of workplace psychological terror, also known as workplace mobbing, that can be observed within the field of sport. Examples that can occur in a sports workplace, such as treatment violating human dignity, sexual and physical harassment, discrimination, and emotional manipulation, as well as fear of punishment and coercion into prohibited actions, constitute a significant factor in the lives of athletes worldwide. The primary objective of this research was to assess the prevalence of workplace psychological terror among Hungarian athletes and, based on the findings, formulate scientifically substantiated recommendations for remedial actions. The researchers utilized a self-administered online questionnaire to examine the prevalence of psychological terror among athletes, along with other forms of workplace abuse that occur within the sporting environment. The instrument was created by the research team and evaluated nine categories of athlete mobbing actions. The findings indicated that various types of workplace psychological terror are present in the Hungarian sports system. Based on the results, the authors suggest that, to combat and prevent all forms of workplace psychological terror in sport, systemic change is needed, grounded in an Occupational and Organizational Psychology (OOP) approach. The results of our preliminary study suggest that the questionnaire section examined may be suitable for further methodological development and domestic validation.