Get Your Head Out The Game: Football & Domestic Violence

By Lisa

Are you ready for some F O O T B A L L ! Dat, Dat, Daa Dat Dat, Daa… (ESPN Theme Song)

So, the football season officially began Thursday, September 8th, and for all you football fans out there, many of your days and nights will be dominated by the NFL and NCAA football over the next 5 months.

Unfortunately, game time may not be all fun and games to the overzealous die-hard fan who can sometimes blur the lines of fantasy and reality with professional sports. A recent study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research  has been published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics that shows an uncanny correlation between emotional rage felt from the loss of a football game with an increase in certain negative behaviors, namely domestic violence.

Here’s a look at some of the football related triggers thought to exacerbate the incident of intimate partner violence:

* The hour or so after a local team favored to win, ultimately lost

* Home Team loses to a traditional rival

* Losses during the playoffs

* Unexpected losses involving an unusual number of sacks, turnovers or penalties

Although this study was based on findings over a period of months covering the span of a football season, this dilemma is clearly not limited to football. Nevertheless, domestic violence is a serious epidemic that knows no color barrier or socioeconomic class. Don’t find yourself offsides. Snap out of it and put the game into perspective.

BLAM Fam: Share your own opinions on whether you think sports can have an influence on behavior.

Lisa is the founder of Sistaspace, a blog site all about the little things in life that make you go hmmm and are usually left unspoken. Looking for some end of the week commentary that is sure to spark up a conversation? Check out her Top Five Friday posts at sistaspace.wordpress.com.