Search Results

The intent of this study was to examine how students (ages 5.9 to 10.9 years) with and without disabilities benefit from an inclusive mastery climate intervention. Participants were randomly distributed into intervention (19 participants with disabilities and 31 participants without disabilities) and comparison (17 participants with disabilities and 37 without disabilities) groups. Participants performed the Test of Gross Motor Development before and after the intervention. The analyses revealed that children with and without disabilities who received the 12-week intervention demonstrated significant improvement in motor skill performance from pre- to post- intervention while the comparison group did not. These findings suggest that the mastery climate intervention provided similar learning opportunities for students with and without disabilities.

Two studies were conducted to examine the effects of motivational climate on motor-skill development and perceived physical competence in kindergarten children with developmental delays. In Experiment 1, two intervention groups were exposed to environments with either high (mastery climate) or low autonomy for 12 weeks. Results showed that the mastery-climate group demonstrated significantly better locomotor performance and higher perceived physical competence postintervention than did the low-autonomy group, although both groups improved in locomotor and object-control skill performance. The second investigation extended the findings of the first by determining that the intervention effects were present 6 months later. In summary, the mastery-climate group showed positive changes in skill development and perceived physical competence, and this positive pattern of change was maintained over time.

This case study focused on the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team during the period from 2004 to 2011, when Graham Henry (head coach) and Wayne Smith (assistant coach) coached and managed the team. More specifically, this case study examined the motivational climate created by this coaching group that culminated in winning the Rugby World Cup in 2011. In-depth interviews were completed with Henry and Smith in March 2012. A collaborative thematic content analysis revealed eight themes, regarding motivational issues and the motivational climate for the 2004–2011 All Blacks team: (i) critical turning point, (ii) flexible and evolving, (iii) dual-management model, (iv) “Better People Make Better All Blacks,” (v) responsibility, (vi) leadership, (vii) expectation of excellence, and (viii) team cohesion. These findings are discussed in light of autonomy-supportive coaching, emotionally intelligent coaching, and transformational leadership. Finally, practical recommendations are offered for coaches of elite sports teams.

Youth sport is a source of well-being for adolescents, yet experiences vary and attrition can be high. We sought to better understand the coach behaviors that foster positive experiences in youth sport by examining relationships between the motivational climate and athlete engagement (viz., confidence, dedication, enthusiasm, and vigor). We reasoned that a mastery climate (emphasis on effort and learning) would correspond with higher engagement, whereas a performance climate (emphasis on ability and outcome) was expected to correspond with lower engagement. Two-hundred sixty adolescent soccer players completed measures of engagement and perceived coach motivational climate. All dimensions of engagement were positively predicted by a mastery climate. Furthermore, cognitive aspects of engagement were positively predicted by a performance climate. Canonical correlation analysis indicated that a composite of engagement was positively associated with a mastery climate. Results suggest that a mastery climate offers a means of promoting higher levels of overall engagement.

Research illustrates the positive roles of perceived competence, autonomy, and mastery climate and the negative role of performance climate in student motivation in physical education. Less research has examined perceptions of relationships within this setting (i.e., perceived teacher support and relatedness) and their role in student motivation. The purpose of this study was to test the mediating roles of perceived competence, autonomy, and relatedness in the relationship between social contextual factors and motivation in physical education students (N = 508). Results from structural equation modeling showed that perceived competence, autonomy, and relatedness partially mediated the relationship between perceived teacher support and self-determined motivation and that mastery climate related directly to self-determined motivation. The results highlight the importance of perceived teacher support, mastery climate, and relatedness to motivation in physical education.

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.