Initial, Continued, and Sustained Motivation in Adolescent Female Athletes: A Season-Long Analysis

Abstract

Research on motivation to participate in physical activity has typically been characterized by an assessment of reasons for involvement at a single point in time. This study examined motives for participating, self-perceptions (perceived success, perceived basketball competence, perceived peer acceptance), and enjoyment several times during a sport season relative to player status (Le., amount of playing time). Female basketball players (N = 141) completed measures of participation motivation, perceptions of physical competence and peer acceptance, success, and enjoyment at preseason, midseason, and end of season. Players were classified as starters, primary substitutes, or secondary substitutes by their coaches based on extent of actual playing time. All athletes were similar in their reasons for participating; these included mastery, friends, team atmosphere, and fitness. However, starters and primary substitutes were higher than secondary substitutes in perceptions of success, basketball competence, peer acceptance, and enjoyment at midseason, and starters were higher than primary and secondary substitutes on perceived basketball competence at end of season. These results suggest that positive self-perceptions and affect experienced in the physical domain are related to players ’ opportunities to demonstrate competence in salient achievement areas.

Regrouping: Organized Activity Involvement and Social Adjustment Across the Transition to High School

“…Female athletes, more so than their male peers, have been found to focus on the socio-emotional aspects of participation, placing greater emphasis on the related benefi ts of participation such as camaraderie and identifi cation with team members (Weiss & Frazer, 1995). Given girls' greater needs for relationships during adolescence (Cyranowski, Frank, Young, & Shear, 2000), they may be more aware of and sensitive to the interpersonal interactions and implications of their activity involvement.…”

Mental toughness and attributions of failure in high performing male and female swimmers

“…This may mean that, for females, controllable cognitions post failure is aided by high mental toughness and also thinking that such causal factors for failure are universal. As females tend to have a higher social motive for sport competition (Weiss & Frazer, 1995), thinking about failure in terms of a common experience shared by other competitors may reduce the possibility of negative emotional impact. This interpretation is supported by females having significantly lower globality scores than males, thus indicating a tendency to think that causes are more generalizable rather than specific to the situation.…”

“…Second, another measurement point would increase the reliability of the study conclusions in relation to MT being a resource that is challenged according to failure. It would also be useful to measure the relationship between attributions and mental toughness at different stages of the season (e.g Weiss & Frazer, 1995). Third, it may be useful to analyse how the specific dimensions of mental toughness relates to controllability.…”

Exploring the Influence of Select Demographic, Academic, and Athletic Variables on the Retention of Student-Athletes

“…From an athletic standpoint, those athletes were big fish in a small pond (Murphy, 1991). This high school athletic dominance has been linked to a strong athletic identity, which results in better coping skills (Kauss, 1978), as well as increased motivation, satisfaction, enjoyment, and confidence (Demaine & Short, 2007;Petlichkoff, 1993aPetlichkoff, , 1993bWeiss & Frazer, 1995;Weiss, McAuley, Ebbeck, & Wiese, 1990). If student-athletes are removed from an environment of constant playing time in high school, and placed in a situation where they rarely play in college, the positive associations with playing time are likely to be reduced or eliminated.…”