Youth sport motivational climate and attitudes toward migrants’ acculturation: The role of empathy and altruism

Abstract

Previous research has shown that an empowering motivational climate in organized sport has been linked to attitudes favoring migrants’ integration. The purpose of the present study was to further test the relationship between motivational climate and acculturation attitudes, and to explore the role of prosocial skills as potential mediators of this relationship in adolescent athletes from the host population. Participants were 338 (13.61 ± .95 years of age) Greek adolescents (167 girls) participating in organized sport. Participants’ acculturation attitudes, prosocial skills, and perceptions of the coach‐created motivational climate were measured. Analysis of structural models revealed that an empowering motivational climate was positively related with prosocial skills, reflecting empathy and altruism, which in turn were positively linked with acculturation attitudes favoring migrants’ integration. The results of the present study replicate previous findings regarding the links between empowering motivational climate and acculturation attitudes, and further, provide evidence that prosocial skills such as empathy and altruism mediate this relationship.

A needs assessment study on refugees’ inclusion through physical education and sport. Are we ready for this challenge?

“…Similarly, participants of the present study reported that sport clubs support the inclusion of refugees, fostering children's communication, satisfaction, and mutual respect through social interaction. These reports are in line with recent studies (Hatzigeorgiadis, Morela, Elbe, Kouli, & Sanchez, 2013;Ito et al, 2010;Doidge et al, 2020;Morela et al, 2020). Finally, the emerging results of the present study highlight that both PE and sports can promote mutual interaction (Rosenberg, Fejgin, & Talmor, 2003;Amara et al, 2005) and have a positive impact on the inclusion of refugees depending on teachers'/coaches' delivery style (Kouli & Papaioannou, 2009;Morela et al, 2020) and training (Columna, Foley, & Lytle, 2010).…”

“…Coaches who create an empowering Physical Culture and Sport. Studies and Research, 2021, 91, 1-9 4 motivational climate foster children's entertainment and social interaction, effectively promote the inclusion of refugees (Doidge, Keech, & Sandri, 2020), and show empathy and altruism to host populations (Morela, Hatzigeorgiadis, Theodorakis, Goudas, & Elbe, 2020). However, coaches in many countries have reported that they lack the training, strategies, and appropriate teaching materials to effectively promote the inclusion of refugees (Gasparini & Cometti, 2010;Forde, Lee, Mills, & Frisby, 2015).…”