A provocative new study says that while athletes continue to be role models, and involvement in organized sports can shape a child's character, the influences might not always be positive.

In fact, the study by an American ethics centre says children involved in sports are more likely to cheat in school, are learning from their coaches how to best cut corners and are more open to forms of bullying as a way to motivate people.

The findings, by the Los Angeles-based Josephson Institute, fly in the face of the most widely held view of athletics: that it builds strong character, honesty and team-building skills. Those who make their living from such activities say those beliefs still hold true.

"Participation in sports will encourage positive behaviours," says Jean Côté, acting director of the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen's University.

But in an era of star athletes glorified over team effort, performance-enhancing drugs being used in sports such as professional baseball and bike racing (and even auto racing in the form of fuel additives) and bench-clearing brawls, the Josephson Institute thought the matter was worth further investigation.

The two-year survey of 5,275 high school athletes from across the U.S. yielded some surprising results – at least for anyone who loves sports.

Two-thirds of the athletes admitted to cheating on an exam at least once in the previous year, compared with 60 per cent in the rest of the student population.

Football players were the worst, at 72 per cent.

"For most kids, sport promotes rather than discourages cheating," the report says.

While the students surveyed overwhelmingly saw their coaches as a positive influence on their lives, they also said it was all right for the coach to teach them how to cheat and get away with it.

For instance, 43 per cent of boys thought it was okay for their coaches to teach ways to hold and push that were hard for referees to detect. Again, football was worst, at 51 per cent. Interestingly, the rates were much lower for girls, of whom only 22 per cent thought it was all right for coaches to teach illegal holds.

The study did not examine what the connection between sports and cheating might be.

Was it simply that the kids were learning to cheat from coaches bent on winning? Or were parents pushing their children to succeed at any cost? Or was it just a matter of child athletes being so busy honing their on-field skills that they felt a need to cheat to stay ahead – both academically and athletically.

Answering those questions might tell us who to blame – and the answer is probably a mix of positive answers to all three questions – but the fact remains that the sports teams we hope will help our kids become better people might not being doing the job we want.

In fact, if the study is to be believed, it might be having the opposite effect.

"There is reason to worry that the sports fields ... are becoming the training grounds for the next generation of corporate and political villains and thieves," the report says.

Côté says sports themselves aren't to blame if there are problems with athletes. Instead, he puts the blame on parents and coaches.

"Sport is not bad or good. It's the people around sport who make it bad or good – especially the adults," he says.

Côté has focused much of his research on the influence coaches and parents have on child athletes.

In one study, he found that bantam-age hockey coaches were more likely to encourage aggressive behaviour in their charges and to challenge a referee's calls when they are losing a game.

This happens, he says, even though the coaches tell the kids away from the ice to refrain from being too aggressive and to respect the referee.

"They tell the kids one thing, and act differently," he says.

Such pressures increase with the skill level of the children involved, he says. As the children reach more elite levels of sports, the pressure on them to succeed will likewise increase.

In the United States, high school sport is often an elite arena where kids compete to win university scholarships. Côté says the Josephson study should be seen in that context.

"The crowds are huge at high school games. It's part of the culture."

Côté says parents need to do more than just drop their children off at games and hope that they are learning desired lessons about fair play and teamwork. They also need to be conscious of how their own expectations might be influencing behaviour.

Character building can't be contracted out to a sports league. It's still a parent's job, and how we approach our children's sporting activities is a big part of that.

Email comments to life@thestar.ca.is the Star's faith and ethics reporter.