Goal orientation, evaluative fear, and perceived coach behavior among competitive youth swimmers in Germany and Japan

Abstract

Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to compare youth athletes from two culturally distinct nations (Germany and Japan) on key aspects of their psychological makeup (goal orientation, fear of evaluation) and perceived coach support.Design: Data were obtained with questionnaires distributed during a training session and analyzed with regression as well as multivariate and univariate analyses of variance.Method: There were 56 German (30 female, 26 male) and 117 Japanese (60 female, 57 male) swimmers with a mean age of 13.2 (SD = 2.0) and 14.1 (SD = 1.8), respectively. All of the athletes participated regularly in high-level competitions.Results: As hypothesized, the German athletes were more task than ego oriented and more task focused than the Japanese, whereas the latter group had higher ego orientation scores than the German swimmers and put similar emphasis on both task and ego concerns. Contrary to expectations, there were no differences between the national cohorts in evaluative fear. The Japanese swimmers perceived their training climates to be more competition oriented than did the German participants. In terms of coach-athlete interactions, the German athletes perceived significantly more instruction, positive feedback, and social support than the Japanese. Coach variables contributed significantly to the Japanese participants' feelings of satisfaction, with no such correlations in the German sample.Discussion: Results are interpreted through cultural traditions and may be partly explained by differences in individualism. Practical recommendations for coaches and consultants are offered in light of the research findings.

A systematic review of social support in youth sport

“…The cultural difference between athletes from western countries and eastern countries was examined by Alfermann, Geisler, and Okade, (2013). The authors examined key aspects of both athlete communities concerning their goal orientation and perception of coaching support.…”

“…This theoretical approach has allowed researchers to explore the link between the behavior of support providers and key youth participation outcomes including burn-out Isoard-Gautheur, et al, 2013;Smith et al, 2010), drop out ), motivation (Adie & Jowett, 2010Kavussanu et al, 2011;; fear of evaluation (Alfermann et al, 2013), and sport continuation .…”

“…As highlighted by Alfermann et al (2013), research in youth sport has largely been carried out in Western Countries. Few studies have addressed important variables for successful sports development in nonWestern countries and whether athletes from diverse cultures differ in those variables.…”

East–West measures of evaluative concern and self-presentational thinking in intercollegiate soccer

“…This should not be interpreted as undermining the importance of winning, however. Winning is highly valued in Japanese sport (see Alfermann, Geisler, & Okade, 2013;Hayashi & Weiss, 1994;Isogai, Brewer, Cornelius, Etnier, & Tokunaga, 2003;Kusaka, 2006), and the combined need for affiliation and group/team success often leads to the self-presentational act of crying after losing or failing to win the top prize. To illustrate, tears are not uncommon among Japanese Olympians after earning only silver or bronze medals (Tamaki, 2006).…”

“…Nevertheless, the presumed links between Japanese cultural norms, sport behaviours, and evaluative concern have received scant research attention outside of Alfermann et al (2013), whose examination of athlete and coach variables failed to show significant differences in evaluative fear between German and Japanese youth swimmers in combined-gender training groups. Otherwise, any associations must be inferred from findings in research with only peripheral connections to self-presentational thinking.…”