The Toxic Sports Fandom Scale (TSFS): A Study of Turkish Adaptation, Validity, and Reliability
Öz
The primary objective of this study was to adapt the Toxic Sports Fandom Scale into Turkish and evaluate its psychometric properties within the context of Turkish football culture. Diverging from traditional measurement tools, the TSFS focuses on the cognitive structures and belief systems that legitimize fan aggression. This adaptation aims to address a significant gap in the literature regarding the cognitive and emotional foundations that predispose fans in Türkiye to aggressive behavior. The research sample consisted of 511 active sports fans (76.9% male, X̄_age=24.06), the majority of whom support the “Big Three” clubs. Data were collected via an online survey. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) revealed a robust two-factor structure, diverging from the original multi-dimensional model. The first factor, “Aggressive and Hostile Entitlement,” merges perceptions of entitlement to aggression with hostile environment beliefs; the second factor, “Dysregulated Loyal Fandom,” integrates emotional dysregulation with fan loyalty. The CFA results supported this structure with high fit indices, and the scale demonstrated high internal consistency (α=0.927). While the relatively low mean score for toxic fandom (X̄=2.66) suggests that these toxic cognitions remain somewhat implicit, the findings reveal that Turkish fans cognitively justify aggression as a “right” and recontextualize the loss of emotional control as a marker of “loyal fandom.” In conclusion, the two sub-dimesions and 16-item Turkish version of the TSFS provides a psychometrically sound and culturally sensitive instrument for assessing toxic attitudes and cognitive schemas among sports supporters in Türkiye.
Anahtar Kelimeler
Turkish football, Toxic fandom, fan aggression, fan loyalty
Destekleyen Kurum
N/A
Proje Numarası
N/A
Etik Beyan
Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, dated 18 February 2026, under decision number 13/27.
Teşekkür
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the volunteers who participated in this study
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