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Based on Harter’s (12,13) competence motivation theory, this study examined the relationship of coaches’ performance feedback and motivational climate with female athletes’ perceived competence, enjoyment, and intrinsic motivation. Female adolescent soccer players (N = 141) completed measures of relevant constructs toward the latter part of their season. Canonical correlation analysis revealed that athletes’ perceptions of greater positive and informational feedback given by coaches in response to successful performance attempts, greater emphasis placed on a mastery climate, and less emphasis placed on a performance climate, were significantly related to greater ability perceptions, enjoyment, and intrinsic motivation. Exploratory analyses also showed that the relationship between feedback and the psychosocial outcomes may vary as a function of the perceived motivational climate. Overall, these results suggest that coaching feedback and motivational climate are important contributors to explaining adolescent females’ continued motivation to participate in sport.

This study investigated the effects of verbal motivation on isokinetic peak torque knee extension in children with two distinct personality types (introvert versus extrovert). The subjects were tested in three groups without verbal motivation, with verbal motivation from the tester, and with verbal motivation from the tester and the other participants. A 2 − 3 mixed ANOVA was significant for interaction (p < .001). Post-hoc testing for the introverted group revealed that scores without verbal motivation were significantly higher than with verbal motivation, and the extroverted group scores were higher with verbal motivation. T tests revealed that the extroverted group performed significantly better than the introverted group with verbal motivation (p < .05). Results suggest that verbal motivation has a varying effect on isokinetic torque generating capacity in children with different personality types.

This study examined the relationship between dispositional achievement goal orientations and intrinsic motivation following physical fitness testing. Students, aged 11–15 years, completed the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire, participated in the 20-m progressive shuttle run test, and then completed a modified Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI). Using their goal orientations, students were placed into one of four groups: low in both task and ego, high ego/low task, high task/low ego, and high in both task and ego. A MANOVA indicated that for students in the “high” and “low” performance groups, differences in intrinsic motivation between goal orientation groups were found. Perceived success and goal orientations had independent effects on intrinsic motivation for the lower performance group but interacted to influence intrinsic motivation for the higher performance group. It is concluded that children have different motivational reactions to fitness testing, depending on their goal profile, performance, and perceived success.

This study examined achievement goal orientation patterns and their impact on student motivation in physical education running programs. Participants included 533 fifth graders. They completed questionnaires assessing their achievement goal orientations, expectancy beliefs, task values, and intentions for future participation in running. They also completed a timed, 1-mile run. Data revealed 4 goal orientation patterns: low task/low ego, low task/high ego, high task/low ego, and high task/high ego. Students in the high-task/low-ego and high-task/high-ego groups demonstrated higher levels of motivation in running than those in the low-task/low-ego and low-task/high-ego groups.

Based on self-determination theory, the purpose of this study was to explore the mediating role of autonomous motivation in the relation between environmental factors and pedometer-determined PA among 10- to 12-year-old Flemish children. Data were collected from 787 6th grade pupils and one of their parents. Children completed self-report measures including autonomous motivation for PA and perceived autonomy support for PA by parents and friends. Parents completed a questionnaire concerning their PA related parenting practices (logistic support and explicit modeling) and the perceived home environment with respect to PA opportunities. The results confirmed that autonomous motivation mediated the relation between children’s PA and their perceived autonomy support by friends and parents. Autonomous motivation also mediated the relation between parental logistic support and PA. In addition, a positive direct relation was found between parental explicit modeling and children’s PA, and between perceived neighborhood safety and children’s PA.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between goal orientation and perceptions of the motivational climate initiated by parents among female volleyball players. Female volleyball players (N=204), ranging in age from 14 to 17 years (age M = 15.40), participated in the study. All subjects completed the 36-item Parent-Initiated Motivational Climate Questionnaire (PIMCQ-2) and the 13-item Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire (TEOSQ). Stepwise multiple regression analyses were used to determine the relationship between the predictor variables and goal orientation. Specifically, a climate where parents emphasized success without effort predicted ego orientation. Also, the results indicated that an individual’s perception of a climate fostered by parents that focused on learning/enjoyment predicted task orientation. Overall, results from this study indicated that female volleyball players’ perceptions of what their parents prefer and consider to be important in the learning of physical skills was related to dispositional goal orientation.

Research on motivation to participate in physical activity has typically been characterized by an assessment of reasons for involvement at a single point in time. This study examined motives for participating, self-perceptions (perceived success, perceived basketball competence, perceived peer acceptance), and enjoyment several times during a sport season relative to player status (Le., amount of playing time). Female basketball players (N = 141) completed measures of participation motivation, perceptions of physical competence and peer acceptance, success, and enjoyment at preseason, midseason, and end of season. Players were classified as starters, primary substitutes, or secondary substitutes by their coaches based on extent of actual playing time. All athletes were similar in their reasons for participating; these included mastery, friends, team atmosphere, and fitness. However, starters and primary substitutes were higher than secondary substitutes in perceptions of success, basketball competence, peer acceptance, and enjoyment at midseason, and starters were higher than primary and secondary substitutes on perceived basketball competence at end of season. These results suggest that positive self-perceptions and affect experienced in the physical domain are related to players ’ opportunities to demonstrate competence in salient achievement areas.

An important issue facing sport psychology researchers as well as practitioners is understanding the motives of children involved in youth sport programs. The present study extended previous work in this area by examining parental perceptions of their children’s motivations and perceived competencies in addition to the typically assessed variables of youth-reported motives and perceived competencies. Eighty-one children and one of their parents from a youth soccer league served as subjects for this study. Results indicated that children and parents alike ranked intrinsic motives such as feeling good and having fun as primary reasons for participation. In addition, both parents and children rated external reasons as the lowest priorities for participation. Multivariate analyses of variance indicated that children rated all the motive subscales more positively than their parents. No significant relationships were found between perceived competencies and motives.

This study examined whether feedback or feedback plus physical activity information could increase the number of pedometer steps taken during 1 school week. One hundred seventy-seven students (mean age 9.124 ± 1.11 years) in three elementary schools participated. Schools were randomly assigned to control (CON), feedback (FB), or feedback plus information (FB+I) groups. Children wore pedometers during school time for 5 consecutive weekdays. The total steps of the groups were recorded at the end of each school day, with students in the FB and FB+I groups free to view their step counts. In addition, the FB+I group received information and ideas about how they could increase their daily steps. The CON group received no step-count feedback or information. Students in the FB+I group achieved significantly more steps per minute (17.17 ± 4.87) than those in the FB (13.77 ± 4.06, p = 0.003) and CON (12.41 ± 3.12, p = 0.0001) groups. Information, as well as step-count feedback, increased elementary students’ school-based physical activity (number of steps) in the short term. A longer intervention period is necessary to assess the sustained impact of this type of approach.