This article introduces a sport-specific theoretical model of commitment. Sport commitment is defined as a psychological state representing the desire or resolve to continue sport participation. The Sport Commitment Model proposes that sport commitment is determined by sport enjoyment, involvement alternatives, personal investments, social constraints, and involvement opportunities. Greater sport enjoyment, personal investments, social constraints, involvement opportunities, and less attractive involvement alternatives are predicted to lead to higher levels of sport commitment. Constitutive definitions were established for each of the model's components, and questionnaire items were developed. Results from the first empirical test of the model conducted with girls (n = 95) and boys (n = 83) participating in a Little League program showed that the questionnaire items formed reliable scales. Correlational analyses demonstrated that several predictors were related to sport commitment as hypothesized. Stepwise regression findings revealed that sport enjoyment and personal investments were the dominant predictors of commitment for this sample. Together, these two model components accounted for 58% of the sport commitment variance.

This field study examined predictors of the sport enjoyment experienced by 76 male wrestlers, ages 9 to 14 years, who participated in the first two rounds of a competitive wrestling tournament. Enjoyment was operationalized as the amount of fun the boys had experienced during the wrestling season and the degree to which they liked to wrestle, Intrapersonal variables, including the participants' age and perceptions of their wrestling ability, were investigated as predictors of their sport enjoyment. Significant adult influences, including the boys' perceptions of typical parental and coach behaviors and responses to them in the sport setting, were also examined in relation to enjoyment. A stepwise multiple regression analysis indicated that younger boys, and those who perceived greater wrestling ability, enjoyed their sport participation more than did older boys and those with perceptions of lower ability, Boys who perceived (a) greater parental and coach satisfaction with their season's performance, (b) less maternal pressure and fewer negative maternal performance reactions, and (c) more positive adult sport involvement and interactions (p < .10) experienced greater enjoyment when compared with their counterparts. Together, these predictors accounted for 38% of the variation in wrestlers' enjoyment.

This article presents our progress in developing a set of survey measures to assess constructs of the Sport Commitment Model in the youth-sport domain. Initial item development was accomplished through extensive literature reviews and the expert evaluations of research professionals, teachers, and young athletes. The items were then examined empirically with three separate samples numbering 140, 178, and 1342 athletes, respectively. For the first two samples, items formed reliable scales for each of the model constructs and separated into distinct factors largely as hypothesized. For the third sample, structural-equation modeling was employed and results supported the measurement of four constructs, with the other two constructs held from the measurement model because of item limitations. Overall, results of the three samples indicate reliable measures that can be used in tests of the Sport Commitment Model across samples of youth-sport athletes representing diversity in age, gender, and ethnicity.

This study examined the sources of stress in elite figure skaters. Twenty-six former national-championship competitors were interviewed to identify their stressors during the most competitive phase of their athletic careers. The interviews consisted of open-ended and follow-up questions that provided an in-depth understanding of the athletes' sources of stress. Inductive content-analysis procedures established stress categories derived from the athletes' perspective. Five major sources of stress emerged from the data—negative aspects of competition, negative significant-other relationships, demands or costs of skating, personal straggles, and traumatic experiences. The results demonstrate that (a) elite athletes experience stress from both competition and noncompetition sources, (b) individual differences exist among elite athletes' sources of stress, and (c) elite and youth sport athletes have similar competition-related stressors.

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