RC Grant Findings: Social Influences on Changes in Youth Athletes' Motivation and Well Being

Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Exhibit Hall Poster Area 1 (Convention Center)
Anthony J. Amorose1, M. Lindley McDavid1, Aidyn L. Iachini2 and Allie Riley3, (1)Illinois State University, Normal, IL, (2)University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, (3)Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

Background/Purpose Despite a commonly held belief that sport participation leads to positive experiences and developmental outcomes, little is known about: (a) how and why sport participation leads to more or less positive outcomes, and (b) how adults in sport – namely parents and coaches – influence these outcomes in youth. Grounded in self-determination theory, the purpose of this study was to examine whether changes in motivation and well-being (i.e., burnout and self-esteem) of adolescent sport participants across a season are predicted by perceived autonomy support from parents and coaches and the satisfaction of youth's psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness.

Method Athletes (N = 391; M age = 15.43 years; 60.9% female; 85.9% Caucasian) from a variety of school-sponsored sport teams completed valid and reliable questionnaires at the beginning and end of their competitive season.

Analysis/Results Path analysis results showed that perceived autonomy support from coaches positively predicted changes in athletes' psychological need satisfaction, which in turn positively predicted changes in their self-determined motivational orientation and self-esteem and negatively predicted changes in burnout. Autonomy support from mothers and fathers were non-significant predictors. The model, which fit the data well (SB ×2=10.81, df=9, p=.29, RMSEA=.02), accounted for 19-24% of the variation in need satisfaction changes and 8%, 6%, and 12% of the variation in changes in motivational orientation, self-esteem, and burnout, respectively.

Conclusions The results support the basic tenants of self-determination theory and highlight the important role played by coaches in determining whether sport participation results in positive or negative outcomes.

Handouts
  • AAHPERD poster.pdf (254.5 kB)