Youth sport participants frequently report social reasons for their involvement in sport such as wanting to be part of a team or to be with friends, and social sources of positive and negative affect such as social recognition and parental pressure. Although a social view of sport has been recognized, youth sport motivation researchers have emphasized approaches centered on constructs related to physical ability and have not examined the social aspect of motivation in detail. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the contribution that social goal orientations and perceptions of belonging make toward understanding youth sport motivation. Specifically, female adolescents' (N = 100) social motivational orientations, achievement goal orientations, perceived belonging, perceived physical ability, and interest in sport were assessed. Results from multiple regression analyses indicated that social motivational constructs added to the explanation of adolescents' interest in sport.Key Words: social goals, goal orientations, perceived belonging, relatedness, measurement When given the choice, few individuals elect to participate in sport on their own. Whether it is tennis at the local courts with friends, a Little League team with teammates, or a high school championship soccer match with a stand full of spectators, inherent in these physical activities are social settings and interpersonal interactions. The social context of sport is salient to participants' motivation. Participants report social reasons for engaging in physical activities including affiliation, being part of a team, and social status (McCullagh, Matzkanin, Shaw, & Maldanado, 1993;Passer, 1982). Researchers have also indicated that positive and negative affect comes from social sources such as friendship opportunities, social recognition, and parental pressure (Scanlan, Carpenter, Lobel, & Simons, 1993;Scanlan & Lewthwaite, 1984). Further, social interactions with parents, coaches, and peers have all been associated with the quality of young people's sport experience (e.g., Brustad, 1993;Duncan, 1993;Wylleman, 2000).Sport clearly has meaning to participants because it provides opportunities for interpersonal interaction and the development of social bonds with significant others. Despite the salience of numerous social aspects of sport to participants, researchers examining youth sport motivation have tended to emphasize constructs related to physical ability such as perceived physical ability and task and ego goalThe author is with the Dept. of Sport and Leisure, School of Education, University of Waikato, PO Box 3105, Hamilton, New Zealand. / Allenorientations as a means for understanding young people's motivation (for reviews, see Duda, 2001;Weiss & Chaumeton, 1992). Thus the purpose of this study was to examine the contribution that social motivational orientations and perceptions of belonging make toward understanding youth sport motivation.Current dominant motivation theories employed in youth sport research, such as competence motiv...

Objectives  The aim of this research was to develop a measure of life skills development through sport.  Method  Four studies were conducted to develop the Life Skills Scale for Sport (LSSS). Study 1 developed items for the scale and included 39 reviewers’ assessment of content validity. Study 2 included 338 youth sport participants and used exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and descriptive statistics to reduce the number of items in the scale and explore the factor structure of each subscale and the whole scale. Study 3 included 223 youth sport participants and assessed the factor structure of the scale using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) and bifactor modeling. Study 4 investigated the test-retest reliability of the scale over a two-week period with 37 youth sport participants.  Results  Study 1 resulted in the development of the initial 144-item LSSS and provided content validity evidence for all items. Study 2 refined the scale to 47 items and provided preliminary evidence for the unidimensional factor structure of each subscale. Study 3 supported the factorial validity of the scale, with ESEM solutions providing the best fit and resulting in more differentiated factors. Study 4 provided evidence for the test-retest reliability of the scale.  Conclusions  Collectively, these studies provided initial evidence for the validity and reliability of the LSSS; a measure which can be used by researchers and practitioners to assess participants’ perceived life skills development through sport

Understanding athletes' attitudes to doping continues to be of interest for its potential to contribute to an international anti-doping system. However, little is known about the relationship between elite athletes' attitudes to drug use and potential explanatory factors, including achievement goals and the motivational climate. In addition, despite specific World Anti-Doping Agency Code relating to team sport athletes, little is known about whether sport type (team or individual) is a risk or protective factor in relation to doping. Elite athletes from Scotland (N=177) completed a survey examining attitudes to performance-enhancing drug (PED) use, achievement goal orientations and perceived motivational climate. Athletes were generally against doping for performance enhancement. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that task and ego goals and mastery motivational climate were predictors of attitudes to PED use (F (4, 171)=15.81, P<.01). Compared with individual athletes, team athletes were significantly lower in attitude to PED use and ego orientation scores and significantly higher in perceptions of a mastery motivational climate (Wilks' lambda=.76, F=10.89 (5, 170), P<.01). The study provides insight into how individual and situational factors may act as protective and risk factors in doping in sport

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There is a need for future research to clarify the operational definition and subsequent measurement of the performance avoidance construct, and in particular, to examine the role that effort, impression management, and anxiety/fear of failure play in its conceptualisation.