“I support you in everything”: a qualitative study on maternal perception about their skating daughters

Abstract

The study aimed to understand the perceptions of mothers about the practice of figure skating by their daughters aged between 8 and 13 years old. Methods: Eight mothers of skaters belonging to a youth competition team were interviewed in a qualitative study, which used narratives as the methodological approach. The interview was structured with open-ended questions and the full transcriptions were analyzed through content analysis. Results: The results of the three categories of analysis -"Skating and competing: the first influences"; "Family models and maternal participation"; and "Behavior of parents in sporting events" -showed that mothers perceived they provide emotional and motivational support during their daughters' sports practice and that they do not exert pressure for results. To not recognize negative behaviors could be negative to the skaters and may be the result of an inconscient mechanism or the need of mothers to have socially accepted behavior. They also stressed anxiety during competitions and reported strategies to cope with it. Thus, it is important to raise awareness of this situation so mothers can have more resources to manage this fragile balance. Conclusions: The way mothers participate in their children's sports life and express their support influences their sports practice; therefore, to understand how mothers perceive their involvement in their daughters' sportive practice is important to develop best practices to guarantee the quality of the interaction between mothers-children and healthy psychological development.