Perceived Motivational Climate and Self-Determined Motivation in Male and Female High School Athletes (Psychology)

Given that self-determination theory (SDT, Deci & Ryan, 1985) and supporting research indicate a number of positive outcomes associated with possessing a more self-determined motivational orientation (see Vallerand, 1997), identifying factors related to the facilitation of this type of motivational orientation is an important research goal. According to SDT, anything that impacts the fundamental needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness can ultimately influence one’s motivation. While various factors may affect these needs within sport, research based on achievement goal theory (AGT, Nicholls, 1989) has indicated that the motivational climate (i.e., the definition of success and failure emphasized in the environment) may be particularly relevant. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between dimensions of the perceived motivation climate and athletes’ self-determined motivation. Consistent with SDT, the relationship between the motivation climate and the athletes’ motivational orientation was predicted to be mediated by the needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Based on AGT and previous research, more task-involved dimensions of the motivational climate (i.e., cooperative learning, important role, effort/improvement) as assessed by the PMCSQ-2 (Newton et al., 2000) were hypothesized to positively relate to the motivational variables, whereas the ego-involving dimensions (i.e., punishment for mistakes, unequal recognition, intra-team rivalry) were predicted to negatively relate. Male and female high school athletes (N = 306) completed valid and reliable questionnaires assessing the various constructs of interest. Structural equation modeling revealed partial support for the hypothesized pattern of relationships. Perceived competence and autonomy positively predicted a weighted index of self-determined motivation; however, relatedness was a non-significant predictor. Of the ego-involved dimensions of the motivational climate, only punishment for mistakes was significantly and negatively related to the motivation variables. All three of the task-involved dimensions, on the other hand, were positive predictors of at least one of the three fundamental needs. Modification indices suggested the dimensions of effort/improvement and important role also exerted direct effects on self-determined motivation. With the addition of these two direct paths, the final model was deemed an acceptable representation of the data (df = 4, χ²=5.91, p=.21, RMSEA=.04), explaining 49% of the variance in self-determined motivation. Overall, the results support both theory and previous research demonstrating the effect of the motivational climate on athletes’ motivation. The findings, however, also extend the literature by illustrating that specific dimensions of the motivational climate have unique associations with elements of athletes’ motivation.
Keyword(s): athletics/sports, research, youth sports