A coach-initiated motivational climate intervention and athletes’ perceptions of group cohesion in youth sport.

Abstract

The current study examined the influence of a motivational climate intervention with recreational youth soccer coaches on athletes’ perceptions of group cohesion. Results of a repeated-measures MANOVA demonstrated a significant Time Condition interaction, p .01, p .09, with follow-up univariate tests indicating differences between groups for perceptions of both task, p .02, p .05, and social cohesion, p .01, p .06, across time. In essence, coaches in the motivational climate intervention had athletes who demonstrated elevated perceptions of task and social cohesion by the end-of-season measure (.44 Cohen’s d .49). Overall, results (a) highlight the efficacy of the motivational climate intervention with coaches through increased perceptions of task-focused behaviors, and (b) demonstrate the ability to positively influence perceptions of cohesion in youth sport through a manipulation of basic coaching behaviors. Implications and future directions are offered as they relate to team-building interventions and adherence in a youth sport context.