Abstract
Physical touch has been considered a way of tactile communication that promotes cooperation, helps to relieve stress or to communicate emotions and affect (Hertenstein et al., 2009). Kraus et al. (2010) studied if touch increases both individual and group performance registering the touch behavior of NBA players. Here, instead of focusing on players’ performance, we focused on team cohesion. Given that touch is often used as a way to communicate support and trust, we explored if the number of touches among team-mates may be a reliable and useful indicator of team cohesion. A second aim of this study was to explore how variables such as gender, age and expertise in playing basketball might influence players’ tactile communication and team cohesion. 6 basketball teams (n=96, 14-18 years old) with different level of expertise participated in the study that was conducted during the final four competitions of Madrid championship. All teams filled several cohesion questionnaires (GEQ, ASQ and the Social Identity Questionnaire –SIQ- (Cameron, 2004). The games were recorded and coded to assess the tactile communication. Regarding tactile communication, we found significant correlations between the number of touches among team-mates and: a) the ASQ (r=. 585, p=.045), b) the SIQ (r=.723; p=.008) and c) the general assessment players did of their teams (r=. 765; p=.004). There was a significant effect of gender –males, F 1,8=5,352, p=.049-, but not of category. Implications for improving basketball players and teams’ performance and satisfaction, as well as for measuring team cohesion will be developed.Acknowledgments: This study was conducted thanks to grants DEP2011-27282 and EDU2008-01211 Spanish Government granted to the first author