Predicting young athletes' motivational indices as a function of their perceptions of the coach- and peer-created climate

ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to examine the additive and interactive influence of perceptions of the coach- and peer-created motivational climates (MC) on affective (physical self-worth, enjoyment, trait anxiety) and behavioral (exerted effort as rated by the coach) responses of young athletes. Age and gender differences in athletes' views regarding these psychological environments were also examined.DesignCross-sectional; participants responded to a number of questionnaires assessing peer and coach motivational climate, and affective and behavioral responses in youth sport.MethodsParticipants were 493 young athletes, age 12–17 years (M age=14.08; SD=1.29), from various individual and team sports.ResultsHierarchical regression analyses, controlling for age and gender, showed that a perceived task-involving peer MC was the only predictor of physical self-worth. A perceived ego-involving coach climate emerged as the only predictor of trait anxiety. Enjoyment was predicted positively by both coach and peer task-involving MCs, whereas reported effort was predicted only by the coach task-involving MC. A 2-way MANOVA revealed that perceptions of ego-involving coach and peer MCs were higher among males, whereas females reported higher perceptions of task-involving coach and peer MCs, whereas no age differences were identified. A significant age–gender interaction effect on the peer ego-involving MC emerged.ConclusionsThe findings provide evidence for the importance of peer-created MC in youth sport and suggest that both coach and peer influence should be considered in future research on young athletes' self perceptions and motivation-related responses in sport.