Relations of Parent- and Coach-Initiated Motivational Climates to Young Athletes’ Self-Esteem, Performance Anxiety, and Autonomous Motivation: Who Is More Influential?

Abstract

Motivational climate research has focused more empirical attention on coach-initiated motivational climate than on the parent-initiated climate. In this study of 238 competitive swimmers (ages 9-14 years), we compared the strength of relations between athletes' late-season perceptions of coach and parent-initiated climates and their self-esteem, performance anxiety, and intrinsic-extrinsic motivation. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that parent-initiated motivational climate was a significant predictor of late-season self-esteem, trait anxiety, and autonomous regulation over and above coach-initiated motivational climate. We discuss when and why the parent-initiated climate is likely to be more influential and imply that more empirical attention to parents is warranted.

Parental Involvement in Elite Junior Slalom Canoeing

“…Parents, acting as interpreters of their children's sport performances (through their words and actions; Fredricks & Eccles, 2004), seemed to increase participants' confidence, reduce canoeists' pre-race anxieties and perceptions of pressure, and help facilitate and maintain athletes' task-focused motivation. These findings, in combination with previous studies of parental involvement indicate that parents can have pervasive, positive influences on children's sport performances and wellbeing, particularly when they shape athletes' thoughts, feelings, and behaviors through appropriate motivational climates and social support (Keegan et al, 2010;O'Rourke et al, 2012O'Rourke et al, , 2014). …”

Parenting and Motocross: The Whoops and Downs

“…Such work has shown that athletes who identify as having perfectionistic parents were more likely to perceive higher levels of parental pressure and suffered from poor adjustment (Randall, Bohnert, & Travers, 2015). Similar work by O'Rourke et al (2014), noted that high parental pressure during youth sports events was associated with the highest levels of extreme responses for children (e.g., celebration or crying).…”

“…One of the key roles parents partake in is being the purveyor of emotional support and guidance regarding positive sports participation. This is especially important as the approach parents take regarding this role strongly influences both positively and negatively a child's beliefs and their motivation and performance within the sport (O'Rourke, Smith, Smoll, & Cumming, 2014).…”

Developing features of sport parenting expertise: an investigation and intervention

“…A mastery climate involves a focus on learning from mistakes, enjoyment, and selfreferenced success criteria, whereas an ego climate involves an emphasis on winning, punishing mistakes, and comparison with others. Researchers have generally posited that a parent mastery climate promotes children's competence by positively influencing self-perceptions, goals, motivations, and attitudes (O'Rourke, Smith, Smoll, & Cumming, 2014). For example, when White and colleagues (1998) examined female youth volleyball players' sport experience, they found that parents who promoted an attitude of success without effort predicted athlete ego-involvement whereas parents who focused on learning and enjoyment predicted masteryinvolvement.…”

“…Fraser-Thomas, Côté, and Deakin (2005) highlighted the importance of parents who contribute to making sport a positive, rather than negative, experience for children, so that sport can foster healthy psychosocial development and encourage lifelong sport participation. Moreover, parents are commonly considered to be the major influence during children's initial competitive experiences (Brustad & Partridge, 2002;Fredericks & Eccles, 2005;Woolger & Power, 1993), and recent research indicates that this crucial influence might continue throughout development (O'Rourke, Smith, Smoll, & Cumming, 2014).…”