The Motivational Atmosphere in Youth Sport: Coach, Parent, and Peer Influences on Motivation in Specializing Sport Participants

By R. Keegan, Christopher M. Spray, C. Harwood, D. Lavallee. 2010

289 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This study qualitatively examined the motivationally relevant behaviors of key social agents in specializing sport participants. Seventy-nine participants (9–18 years old) from 26 sports participated in semi-structured focus groups investigating how coaches, parents, and peers may influence motivation. Using a critical-realist perspective, an inductive content analysis indicated that specializing athletes perceived a multitude of motivationally relevant social cues. Coaches’ and parents’ influences were related to their specific roles: instruction/assessment for coaches, support-and-facilitation for parents. Peers influenced motivation through competitive behaviors, collaborative behaviors, evaluative communications, and through their social relationships. The results help to delineate different roles for social agents in influencing athletes’ motivation.

Subfields: Developmental and Educational Psychology, Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/78c99b25bc25ef3a1a932c23094434eaf347762e

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Developmental and Educational Psychology

1. C. Harwood
2. R. Keegan
3. D. Lavallee
4. Daragh Sheridan
5. P. Coffee
6. N. Stambulova
7. Tatiana Ryba
8. Jacquelyn Allen-Collinson

In Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation

1. C. Harwood
2. R. Keegan
3. D. Lavallee

In Social Psychology

1. C. Harwood
2. R. Keegan
3. D. Lavallee
4. Daragh Sheridan
5. Adam Raine
6. Jonathan Smith
7. P. Coffee
8. Jacquelyn Allen-Collinson

Citations in the corpus

• A systematic review of the intrapersonal correlates of motivational climate perceptions in sport and physical activity (2015, background): “5 Keegan et al. (2010; 2014b) have critiqued the issue of making recommendations to 6 coaches or teachers on the basis of subjective perceptions, which can vary substantially even 7 when players have the same coach/teacher (Papaioannou, 1994; Cumming et al., 2007).”
• A systematic review of social support in youth sport (2014, background): “Four studies indicated a positive relationship between parent support and athlete motivation (Kavussanu et al., 2011; Keegan et al., 2010; Ullrich-French & Smith, 2006, 2009).”