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The purpose of this paper is to review Nicholls' developmentally based theory of achievement motivation and apply this perspective to children's sport. Five areas of research are reviewed that support the relevance of Nicholls' theory to the sport domain. Based on Nicholls' framework, several considerations are presented for future research on the development of achievement motivation in sport.

This study examined developmental differences in motives for participating in competitive swimming across the lifespan. Six age groupings were chosen based on underlying cognitive criteria identified in the literature: younger and older children, high school/college age, and young, middle, and older adults. Swimmers from YMCAs (N= 100) completed the Participation Motivation Questionnaire modified by D. Gould, Feltz, and Weiss (1985). An exploratory factor analysis identified seven factors: characteristics of competitive swimming, health/fitness, social status, affiliation, energy release, significant others, and fan. A MANOVA on the factor scores revealed a significant age group main effect. Follow-up analyses indicated that characteristics of competitive swimming was rated significantly lower by the older adults while social status was rated significantly higher by older children and high school/college-age swimmers. Significant others was rated significantly higher by children, and fen was rated most important by younger children and older adults. Finally, health/fitness motives were rated highest by young and middle adults and lowest by older children and older adults. Implications of the findings for a cognitive-developmental approach to participation motivation are discussed.

A developmental theoretical approach is recommended as the most appropriate framework from which to study children's psychosocial experiences in sport. This perspective provides the best understanding of children's sport behaviors by focusing on ontogenetic changes in cognitive abilities which help to describe and explain behavioral variations among individuals. A content analysis of sport psychological research conducted on children and youth over the last decade reveals that few studies selected age groups for investigation that were based on underlying cognitive-developmental criteria. Thus, recommendations emanating from these studies may be misleading or inaccurate. Examples of developmental research from the psychological and sport psychological literature are provided to illustrate the potential for conducting further research on the psychosocial development of children in sport. Finally, guidelines for implementing a systematic line of research in sport psychology from a developmental perspective are outlined.

This study examined (a) the developmental trajectories of athlete burnout perceptions, (b) the gender differences on these trajectories, and (c) the interactions in the developmental trajectories of the three burnout dimensions. A five-wave longitudinal study was conducted with 895 athletes (47.6% female; M _age = 15.67). Results of multilevel growth models revealed that during adolescence, “reduced sense of accomplishment” linearly decreased and was higher for girls than boys. Moreover, “emotional/physical exhaustion” increased then decreased, and seemed to have been attenuated at time points in which athletes also had higher levels of “sport devaluation.” Finally, “sport devaluation” increased over time with higher increases for girls than boys. Results of our study depicted the general and the gendered shape of the trajectory of burnout perceptions during adolescence, and underlined the advantages of considering the multifaceted nature of burnout to enable a deeper examination of the within-person synergies in the development of the three dimensions.

The purposes of the current study were to identify mental toughness profiles in adolescent cricketers and examine differences between these profiles on developmental assets and negative emotional states. A sample of 226 community cricketers (125 New Zealanders and 101 Australians; male n = 210) aged between 10 and 18 years (M _age = 14.41 years; SD = 2.11) completed a multisection, online survey containing measures of mental toughness, developmental assets, and negative emotional states. The results of hierarchical (Ward’s method) and nonhierarchical (k means) cluster analyses revealed three mental toughness profiles characterized by low, moderate, and high levels of all five mental toughness assets (i.e., affective intelligence, desire to achieve, self-belief, attentional control, resilience). Those cricketers with high levels of mental toughness reported possession of more developmental assets and lower levels of negative emotional states when compared with cricketers with the moderate levels of mental toughness. No statistically significant differences existed between the moderate and low levels of mental toughness profiles. These findings provided preliminary evidence to suggest that mental toughness might be viewed not only from the traditional view of optimal performance but also from a stance that may represent a contextually salient representation of thriving in youth sport settings.

The present study investigated the contribution of positive and negative youth sport experiences (i.e., processes or experiences that occur in a particular activity or setting) to self-reported mental toughness among youth-aged cricketers. A sample of 308 male cricketers aged between 13 and 18 years self-reported mental toughness using the Cricket Mental Toughness Inventory (CMTI; Gucciardi & Gordon, 2009), with 187 of these cricketers also documenting their exposure to a variety of positive and negative developmental experiences. Confirmatory factor and internal reliability analyses supported the hypothesized mental toughness measurement model. Structural equation modeling analyses indicated that a variety of developmental experiences were related to various mental toughness components, with initiative experiences evidencing the strongest overall relationship with mental toughness followed by negative peer influences. The number of years playing experience and hours per week training evidenced largely insignificant relationships with the exception of desire to achieve and attentional control components of mental toughness, as well as its global factor. Collectively, these findings lend support for the validity of the CMTI as a valid measure among adolescent cricketers, and highlight the importance of initiative and interpersonal experiences for mental toughness in cricket.

This study examined, from a developmental perspective, how coaching feedback serves as an ability cue. Boys and girls (N = 60) comprising 2 age groups (6-8, 12-14) viewed videotapes of youth athletes attempting to hit a baseball or softball, followed by a coach who provided evaluative, informational, or neutral feedback. Participants then rated each athlete’s ability, effort, and future expectancy of success. Separate 2 × 2 × 3 (age × gender × feedback type) repeated measures MANOVAs were conducted for the successful and unsuccessful outcome conditions. Following successful attempts, both older and younger children rated praise higher than neutral and informational feedback as a source of ability information. Athletes receiving informational feedback following unsuccessful attempts were rated highest, followed by neutral feedback and criticism. Open-ended questions revealed some age-related differences in use of ability information. Results are discussed in relation to research on sources of competence information and coaching feedback.

Using Nicholls’ developmental component as a framework, the purpose of this study was to examine children’s understanding of luck and ability in the physical domain. Children (N = 144, 8 boys and 8 girls at each age from 5 to 13 years) enrolled in public schools participated individually in a 30-min session in which they were shown 2 similar games; one required luck and the other required skill to perform successfully. Participants received an explanation of the games and were told of youngsters who had tried unsuccessfully to play them. Participants were interviewed, and their responses were analyzed via a Piagetian structural developmental method. Results revealed that the 4 levels of understanding of luck and ability Nicholls and Miller (1985) described were relevant to the physical domain. Furthermore, the Spearman rho coefficient indicated a strong positive relationship between children’s age and their level of understanding of luck and ability.

We examined the developmental activities that contribute to the development of superior anticipation skill among elite cricket batters. The batters viewed 36 video clips involving deliveries from bowlers that were occluded at ball release and were required to predict delivery type. Accuracy scores were used to create two subgroups: high-performing and low-performing anticipators. Questionnaires were used to record the participation history profiles of the groups. In the early stages of development, hours accumulated in cricket and other sports, as well as milestones achieved, did not differentiate groups. Significant between-group differences in activity profiles were found between 13 and 15 years of age, with high-performing anticipators accumulating more hours in structured cricket activity, and specifically in batting, compared with their low-performing counterparts.