Achievement by proxy distortion in sports: a distorted mentoring of high-achieving youth. Historical perspectives and clinical intervention with children, adolescents, and their families

Abstract

This article describes potentially pathogenic behavior in youth sports. It delineates the four stages of achievement by proxy distortion (ABPD) behavior and attempts to raise awareness of that behavior and to facilitate communication among sports medicine and psychiatry professionals of the potential for exploitation and abuse of children and adolescents by parents, mentors, coaches, and the systems that nurture and develop these children. Information is presented to distinguish motivations behind normal parenting from those that lead to risky sacrifice, objectification of the child, and potential abuse. Distinct abuse stages of ABPD are described. The authors identify "red flags" that indicate distorted views and potentially harmful behavior toward children.