Antecedents of Perceived Coach Interpersonal Behaviors: The Coaching Environment and Coach Psychological Well- and Ill-Being

Embedded in the self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000) framework, we obtained self-report data from 418 paid and voluntary coaches from a variety of sports and competitive levels with the aim of exploring potential antecedents of coaches’ perceived autonomy supportive and controlling behaviors. Controlling for socially desirable responses, structural equation modeling revealed that greater job security and opportunities for professional development, and lower work–life conflict were associated with psychological need satisfaction, which, in turn, was related to an adaptive process of psychological well-being and perceived autonomy support toward athletes. In contrast, higher work–life conflict and fewer opportunities for development were associated with a distinct maladaptive process of thwarted psychological needs, psychological ill-being, and perceived controlling interpersonal behavior. The results highlight how the coaching context may impact upon coaches’ psychological health and their interpersonal behavior toward athletes. Moreover, evidence is provided for the independence of adaptive and maladaptive processes within the self-determination theory paradig

Motivational Predictors of Physical Education Students’ Effort, Exercise Intentions, and Leisure-Time Physical Activity: A Multilevel Linear Growth Analysis

Grounded in self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000), the current study explored whether physical education (PE) students’ psychological needs and their motivational regulations toward PE predicted mean differences and changes in effort in PE, exercise intentions, and leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) over the course of one UK school trimester. One hundred and seventy-eight students (69% male) aged between 11 and 16 years completed a multisection questionnaire at the beginning, middle, and end of a school trimester. Multilevel growth models revealed that students’ perceived competence and self-determined regulations were the most consistent predictors of the outcome variables at the within- and between-person levels. The results of this work add to the extant SDT-based literature by examining change in PE students’ motivational regulations and psychological needs, as well as underscoring the importance of disaggregating within- and between-student effects

Implicit Beliefs of Disability and Elite Sport: The Para-Athlete Experience

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health on 29 September 2017, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/2159676X.2017.1384753.The purpose of this study was to explore the implicit beliefs and underlying motivational processes of para-athletes, and how these beliefs influenced perceptions of sport performance, as well as challenge the dominant social stereotypes that misconstrue disability as inability. Utilising a qualitative research design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with five elite para-athletes from various sporting backgrounds and analysed from a psychosocial perspective according to the procedures of theoretical thematic analysis. To invoke greater emotional tone and depth, participant-created visual data were used to supplement the initial thematic analysis. Three themes associated with the implicit beliefs of para-athletes were identified and termed, (1) on being disabled, (2) achieving is believing and (3) accepting differences or being indifferent. These themes illustrated how participants had to accept the ‘fixed’ nature of their disability first, before they could work towards overcoming its limitations. Through continuously adapting and adjusting their strategies to address setbacks as they occurred, the process of accepting limitations and overcoming setbacks led to increased feelings of self-efficacy and competence, which consequently led to the dominant incremental beliefs participants held

What Motivates Young Athletes to Play Sport?

Motivation is a key factor in young people choosing to play sport outside of school. For example, when playing sport, you could be concerned with getting better at skills, or you might be more focused on being better than other athletes. Moreover, you could choose to take part in sport because you enjoy it, or you could participate because your parents say so. In this article, we explain these two ways of looking at motivation—one that is all about the goals you strive for, and the other that is all about your reasons for taking part. Sport scientists have used these approaches frequently to understand motivation in youth sport and to promote more rewarding experiences. To stay in youth sport longer, it is better if you want to improve yourself rather than to out-do others, and better if you want to be involved rather than feeling forced to participate

A qualitative synthesis of research into social motivational influences across the athletic career span

This study represents a qualitative synthesis of research examining the socio-environmental influences of coaches, parents and peers on athlete motivation, across the athletic career-span. Using a critical-realist perspective, meta-interpretation methodology was deployed to search and analyse the literature. On-going, iterative analysis generated new areas of enquiry and new search terms, until the emerging analysis reached the points of saturation. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were developed during this process to produce a clear statement of applicability for the study. In the final analysis, a developmental structure was specified to describe the athletic career trajectory, together with a horizontal structure capturing seven domains of the motivational atmosphere surrounding athletes (competition, training, evaluation, emotion, authority, social-support, and relatedness), and a vertical structure varying in terms of level-of-abstraction: The global/broad ‘motivational atmosphere’ containing contextual ‘climates’, built from immediate/situational ‘motivational conditions’. A model of the overall ‘motivational atmosphere’ in sport, based on a meteorological analogy, is offered with a view to stimulating critical debate and new research directions that reflect the complexity of interpersonal motivation in sport

Implicit beliefs of disability and elite sport: the para-athlete experience

The purpose of this study was to explore the implicit beliefs and underlying motivational processes of para-athletes, and how these beliefs influenced perceptions of sport performance, as well as challenge the dominant social stereotypes that misconstrue disability as inability. Utilising a qualitative research design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with five elite para-athletes from various sporting backgrounds and analysed from a psychosocial perspective according to the procedures of theoretical thematic analysis. To invoke greater emotional tone and depth, participant-created visual data were used to supplement the initial thematic analysis. Three themes associated with the implicit beliefs of para-athletes were identified and termed, (1) on being disabled, (2) achieving is believing and (3) accepting differences or being indifferent. These themes illustrated how participants had to accept the ‘fixed’ nature of their disability first, before they could work towards overcoming its limitations. Through continuously adapting and adjusting their strategies to address setbacks as they occurred, the process of accepting limitations and overcoming setbacks led to increased feelings of self-efficacy and competence, which consequently led to the dominant incremental beliefs participants held

The Role of Fundamental Movement Skills and Spatial Abilities in the Relationship between Physical Activity and Mathematics Achievement in Primary School Children

Research has demonstrated positive relationships between fundamental movement skills (FMS) and mathematics achievement in children, and this relationship may be mediated by spatial ability. Engaging in physical activity (PA) may also have positive outcomes on mathematics achievement; however, no study has investigated this network of relationships together. This study aimed to examine the relationship between PA and mathematics achievement, and the mediating effects of FMS and spatial abilities, in primary school children. Using a cross-sectional design, data were collected from 182 children (aged 7 to 8 years old) across four schools in England. Objective moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) levels and subjective parental reports of their children's PA participation were collected. Children's FMS were assessed, along with their performance on four spatial ability tasks and a mathematics test. Mediation analyses revealed no significant mediation effects of FMS and spatial abilities on the positive significant relationship between MVPA and mathematics achievement; however, spatial ability partially mediated the relationship between FMS and mathematics achievement. These results suggest that FMS and spatial ability may not be related to MVPA in this network of relationships, but children with more mature FMS perform better in mathematics due to them performing better on specific spatial ability tasks

Interpersonal mechanisms explaining the transfer of well- and ill-being in coach-athlete dyads

The current study explored coaches’ interpersonal behaviors as a mechanism for well- and ill- being contagion from coach to athlete, and vice versa. Eighty-two coach-athlete dyads from individual sports completed self-report measures before and after a training session. Structural equation modeling supported three actor-partner interdependence mediation models, in which coaches’ pre-session well- and ill-being were associated with changes in athletes’ well- and ill-being over the course of the session. These relationships were mediated by athletes’ perceptions of their coaches’ interpersonal styles during the session. The reciprocal transfer from athlete to coach was not fully supported. Nonetheless, coaches’ perceptions of their own interpersonal behavior were associated with changes in their post-session well- and ill-being. Overall, evidence is provided for the contagion of affect from authority figures to those under their instruction, but not vice versa

Motivation in physical education across the primary-secondary school transition

The purpose of this study was to examine the temporal patterns of approach-avoidance achievement goals, implicit theories of ability and perceived competence in physical education across the transition from primary to secondary school. We also evaluated the predictive utility of implicit theories and perceived competence with regard to achievement goal adoption, and determined the moderating influence of gender on temporal patterns and antecedent–goal relationships. One hundred and forty pupils (mean age at start of study = 11.37 years, SD =.28) completed measures of entity and incremental beliefs, perceived competence and goals on four occasions during a 12-month period. Mastery-approach, performance-approach and perform-ance-avoidance goals, as well as entity and incremental beliefs, exhibited a linear decline over time. Mastery-avoidance goals showed no significant change. Girls exhibited a linear decline in perceived competence, whereas for boys the trajectory was curvilinear. Competence perceptions predicted initial scores, but not rate of change, on mastery-approach and both types of performance goals. Incrementa

Educating and supporting tennis parents : a grounded theory of parents' needs during childhood and early adolescence.

The purpose of this study was to identify British tennis parents’ education and support needs across contexts and developmental stages. Data were collected in two high performance tennis centers and consisted of six months of fieldwork and interviews with parents, coaches, and ex-youth players [n=29]. Using a grounded theory methodology (Corbin & Strauss, 2008), data were analysed through a process of open coding, axial coding, and theoretical integration. The resulting grounded theory highlights the need to provide tennis parents with education that covers their introductory needs, organizational needs, development needs, and competition needs during childhood/mini tennis (5-10 years) and early adolescence/junior tennis (11-14 years). The theory is based on the notion that these needs can only be fulfilled if tennis parents are provided with formal education, and that the effectiveness of this education will be determined by parents’ motivation to learn and the on-going support they receive from key stakeholders (e.g., coaches). The content, structure, and timing of parent education and support in high performance tennis centers are discussed