Motivational orientations in youth sport participation: Using Achievement Goal Theory and Reversal Theory

The purpose of this study was to examine motivational orientations of youth (N=1235) towards sport participation by using Achievement Goal Theory (AGT; Nicholls, 1989) and Reversal Theory (RT; Apter, 1989). Both theories are useful for determining how individuals varying in motivational orientations differ in their participation motives in the sport context. AGT postulates that individuals have task and ego orientations whereas RT assumes that individuals have eight orientations (telic, paratelic, conformist, negativistic, autic, alloic, mastery, and sympathy). Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated overall good fit of seven underlying sport motive structures derived from the 30-item Participation Motivation Inventory (Gill, Gross, & Huddleston, 1983). Subsequent canonical correlation analyses generally indicated a close relationship between motivational orientations and sport participation motives congruent with theoretical predictions in both AGT and RT. It was also found that task and ego orientations in AGT were linked with specific motivational orientations in RT. The results suggest that the two theories have similar motivational orientation constructs, more articulated in RT, which may be useful in examining what motivates youth to participate in physical activities and sport.