The purpose of this study was to test a motivational model of sport dropout that integrates the four-stage causal sequence proposed by the Hierarchical Model of Vallerand (1997) and elements from achievement goal theory (Nicholls, 1989). The model posits that a task involving motivational climate facilitates, while an ego-involving climate undermines, perceptions of competence, autonomy, and relatedness. In turn, feeling incompetent, non-autonomous, and unrelated to others undermines self-determined motivation toward handball which leads to the intention of dropping out of the game. Finally, such intentions are implemented later. Three hundred and thirty-five female handballers completed a motivation questionnaire and were followed for 21 months. In France, as in many Western countries, an increasing number of people engage in sport (see for example, Ewing & Seefeldt, 1996;Russell, Allen, & Wilson, 1996;Wankel & Mummery, 1996). In 1997, 14 million individuals were registered in French sporting federations (Data of the Ministry for Youth and Sports, 1997). However, this massive passion for sport masks a paradox: a massive number of teenagers, particularly girls, drop out from sport every year (Gould, 1987;Russell al., 1996;Sallis & Patrick, 1996;Wankel & Mummery, 1996). For example, 50% of French women handball players drop out between 13 and 15 years of age (Guillet & Sarrazin, 1999, unpublished data, University of Grenoble, France). Given the multiple benefits of the regular practice of physical activity revealed in many studies (see Martinsen & Stephens, 1994, for a review), it is unfortunate that a large number of children and teenagers terminate their participation in a physical activity. Moreover, some experts identified adolescents as a group 'at risk' due to declining physical activity and subsequent health-related behaviour and outcomes (Sallis & Patrick, 1996). If the goal is to increase the physical activity level of the teenage population, more research is needed with regard to factors related to their physical activity. A key variable to look at when attempting to predict sport participation is motivation (Vallerand, Deci, & Ryan, 1987;Vallerand & Losier, 1999;Vallerand & Rousseau, 2001). 'Motivation represents the hypothetical construct used to describe the internal and/or external forces that produce the initiation, direction, intensity, and persistence of behaviour ' (Vallerand & Thill, 1993, p. 18, translated by the authors). Various motivational theories can be useful with respect to the study of sport dropout (see Gould, 1987;Weiss & Chaumeton, 1992;Sarrazin & Guillet, 2001, for reviews). However, a model that seems particularly well suited to study the dropout issue is the Hierarchical Model of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation (HMIEM, Vallerand, 1997; Vallerand & Ratelle, in press). Drawing its roots in self-determination theory , 1991, the HMIEM model has furthered our understanding of motivational processes involved in the dropout issue in education (Vallerand, Fortier, & Guay, 1997...

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The main purpose of this study was to explore the relation between teacher expectations and student achievement in physical education classes, in the light of three complementary hypotheses. Student achievement may confirm teacher expectations because these expectations create self-fulfilling prophecies, create perceptual biases, or accurately predict, without influencing, student achievement (Jussim, 1989). Another purpose was to examine the mediating role played by students' perceived ability in the teacher expectancy process. Study data were obtained from 173 students and 7 teachers. Path analysis revealed that teacher expectations have weak self-fulfilling effects, strongly predicted student achievement mainly because they are accurate, and have no biasing effects on teacher judgements. Results also show evidence concerning the role of partial mediator of perceived student ability in the confirmation process of teacher expectations.

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Two complementary studies were conducted to explain the dropout phenomenon with French female handball players, utilizing the tenets of social exchange theory (Thibaut & Kelley, 1959;Rusbult, 1980). In the rst study, the aim was to more fully explore the sources of enjoyment by emphasizing the key variables in the costs/bene ts analysis. We postulate that the costs/bene ts analysis consists in each athlete estimating the probability of reaching the most desired consequences for him or her (e.g., learn and improve skill, af liation with others, be better than the others). The subjects were 488 French women aged from 15-19 years. Structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that enjoyment in handball was predicted by a latent variable (named perceived bene ts) subjacent to perceptions of competence, autonomy, relatedness, progress, coach's support, and time of play. In the second study, we tested a sport commitment model based on the social exchange postulates, using SEM analyses and a prospective design over 8 months. In view of the results of study 1, we replaced the construct of enjoyment with perceived bene t. This analysis provides a more comprehensive understanding of the enjoyment construct and is more consistent with the notion of cost and bene ts outlined in social exchange theory. Participants were 253 French handball players between the ages of 14 and 16 years. A rst set of analyses, focused on the differences, showed that dropout players perceived themselves as signi cantly less competent, less autonomous, less related to their team, lower in progress and less supported by their coach than persistent players. The second set of analyses with SEM revealed that the commitment level was positively associated with perceived bene ts and negatively with social constraints and alternatives opportunities. Finally, a lack of commitment led to dropping out of the sport 8-months later.Deux études complémentaires destinées à mieux comprendre le phénomène de l'abandon chez des handballeuses françaises à partir des postulats de la théorie de l'échange social (Thibaut & Kelley, 1959;Rusbult, 1980), ont été conduites. La première étude s'est intéressée aux sources du plaisir lié à la pratique sportive. Nous avons postulé que l'analyse coûts/béné ces correspondait à une estimation d'atteindre les motifs les plus importants de pratique (p.ex., apprendre et progresser, avoir des amis, être meilleur que les autres). Les sujets étaient 488 handballeuses françaises âgées de 15 à 19 ans. Les résultats d'analyses par équations structurelles (AES) ont révélé que le plaisir au handball était prédit par une variable latente (dénommée "béné ces perçus" dans l'activité) sous jacente aux perceptions de compétence, d'autonomie, d'af liation, de progrès, du soutien de l'entraîneur, et du temps de jeu moyen de jeu. Dans la deuxième étude, nous avons testé un modèle de l'engagement sportif basé sur les postulats de la théorie de l'échange social, en utilisant des AES et un suivi longitudinal de 8 mois. Au regard des résultats de la premiè...