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People who are prone to road rage are also more likely to rant and rave while watching their children play sports, says a U.S. study.
Ego defensiveness,
one of the triggers of road rage, also causes "sideline rage," said
researcher Jay Goldstein, a kinesiology doctoral student at the
University of Maryland School of Public Health.
He observed parents at youth soccer games in suburban Washington, D.C., and concluded that parents become angry when there's an apparent challenge to their ego.
"When they
perceived something that happened during the game to be personally
directed at them or their child, they got angry. That's consistent with findings on road rage," Goldstein said in a prepared statement.
He also found
that control-oriented parents were far more likely to take something
personally and explode than autonomy-oriented parents, who take greater
responsibility for their own behavior.
"In general,
control-oriented people are the kind who try to 'keep up with the
Joneses.' They have a harder time controlling their reactions. They
more quickly become one of 'those' parents than the parents who are
able to separate their ego from their kids and events on the field,"
Goldstein said.
But even autonomy-controlled parents can get angry due to ego-defensiveness.
"While they're
more able to control it, once they react to the psychological trigger,
the train has already left the station," Goldstein said.
Rant and rave/expression/:
speak in an uncontrollable manner, speak deliriously, talk frantically
Defensiveness/n. /:
quality of being on guard
Suburban/adj. /:
of or pertaining to a suburb or suburbs
To be consistent with/ expression/:
firm, coherent; steadfast, to be in accordance with
Autonomy/n. /:
independence
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