Coach–Athlete Relationship in Greek Basketball Community: Associations between Relationship Quality, Maintenance Strategies, and Demographic Factors

This study developed and gained initial evidence for the reliability and validity of a measure of the use of maintenance strategies within the coach-athlete relationship (coach-athlete relationship maintenance questionnaire: CARM-Q). In study one, 50 items were generated based on Rhind and Jowett's COMPASS model, which suggests that conflict management, openness, motivation, positivity, advice, support, and social networks are key strategies for maintaining the quality of coach-athlete relationships. The content validity of these items was established using an expert panel. The items were then administered to 251 participants (146 athletes and 105 coaches). Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to identify the latent underlying structure. A 28 item measure was created with 7 sub-scales measuring: conflict management, openness, motivational, preventative, assurance, support, and social network strategies. Initial evidence for the internal consistency and criterion validity of the CARM-Q was found. In study two, the CARM-Q was administered to an independent sample of 212 coaches and athletes. Further statistical support for the structural validity of the new measure was found. Future research directions are considered and the contribution that this research can make to coach and athlete education programs is discussed.

The investigation of relationship maintenance strategies has received considerable attention in various types of dyads including romantic, marital, and familial relationships. No research, however, has yet investigated the use of maintenance strategies in the coach-athlete partnership. Thus, this study aimed to investigate coaches’ and athletes’ perceptions of the strategies they use to maintain relationship quality. Twelve one-to-one interviews with coaches (4 males and 2 females) and athletes (2 males and 4 females) were conducted. The interviews were structured based on the factors within Jowett's (2007) 3+1C conceptualization of the coach-athlete relationship (i.e., closeness, commitment, complementarity, and co-orientation). Deductive and inductive content analysis revealed seven main categories: conflict management, openness, motivation, positivity, advice, support, and social networks. The COMPASS model was developed based on this analysis and was offered as a theoretical framework for understanding how coaches and athletes might maintain the quality of their relationships.

The prediction of young athletes’ physical self from perceptions of relationships with parents and coaches

Previous research has suggested that attachment style is an indicator of relationship behavior and perception universally across cultures; however, research comparing the effect of attachment style on relational maintenance in culturally distinct societies is still non-existent. The present study investigated the effect of the secure or insecure attachment style on commonly used relational maintenance strategies and desired relational features in three geographically distant cultures: the US mainland, Hawaii, and South Korea. Results indicated that as predicted, regardless of culture, secure attachment style was associated with higher ratings of relationship quality (trust, commitment, liking, control mutuality, and satisfaction) and the self- and partner-perceived uses of Stafford and Canary's (1991) relationship maintenance strategies. Culture did not change the effect of attachment style on the dependent factors; however, culture, as an independent factor, contributed to the variance in the self-/partner-perceived maintenance strategies and relationship quality.

The present two-study paper examined the role of communication strategies that athletes use to develop their coach-athlete relationship. Study 1 examined the mediating role of motivation, support, and conflict management strategies between the quality of the coach-athlete relationship and athletes’ perceptions of sport satisfaction. Study 2 examined the longitudinal and mediational associations of communication strategies and relationship quality across two time points, over a 6-week period. Within both studies, data were collected through multi-section questionnaires assessing the studies’ variables. For study 1, structural equation modeling highlighted significant indirect effects for motivation and support strategies between the quality of the coach-athlete relationship and athletes’ experiences of sport satisfaction. For study 2, significant indirect effects were found for the athletes’ perceptions of the quality of the coach-athlete relationship at time 2 between athletes’ use of communication strategies at time point 1 and time point 2. Together these findings provide support for the practical utility of communications strategies in enhancing the quality of the coach-athlete relationship and athlete’s experiences of sport satisfaction. In addition, the findings provide evidence to highlight the potential cyclical relationship between communication and relationship quality across time.

Utilizing equity theory, this study extends previous research on maintenance strategies. The manner in which relational maintenance strategies are reported and perceived is examined. It was hypothesized that maintenance strategies are used more in equitable relationships than in relationships characterized by underbenefitedness. Further, the use of maintenance efforts by individuals in overbenefited relationships was explored. In addition, this study examined the relative contribution of self‐reported maintenance strategies, perception of partners’ maintenance strategies, and equity in predicting the relational characteristics. Overall, the level of felt equity was found to be related to individuals’ use of, and perceptions of partners’ use of, maintenance strategies in a pattern consistent with equity theory. However, the findings varied somewhat when relying on wives’ versus husbands’ equity judgments. Moreover, self‐reported maintenance strategies as well as perceptions of partners’ maintenance strateg...

Mental toughness is an important predictor of desirable outcomes in sport, and so an essential mental ability for young athletes to develop. However, it remains unclear how mental toughness relates to distinct-yet-interacting features of several team psychosocial contexts, such as the motivational climate and the quality of coach-athlete relationship. This cross-sectional study tested the relative roles of coach-created motivational climate and coach-athlete relationship, and their interaction, in predicting variance in athlete mental toughness. Participants were 140 male elite adolescent athletes (aged 12 to 17 years) from the youth academy of a Portuguese Premier League football club. Hierarchical linear regressions showed that athletes’ perceptions of an empowering coach-created motivational climate did not account for additional variance in mental toughness beyond that accounted for by coach-athlete relationship. In contrast, coach-athlete relationship accounted for additional variance beyond an empowering coach-created motivational climate. These results suggest that the concept of quality coach-athlete relationships is embedded within good coach leadership and highlight its relevance over broader motivational climate for healthy psychological development in youth athletes. A moderation analysis revealed a significant interaction between empowering coach-created motivational climate and coach-athlete relationship, with the positive association between empowering coach-created motivational climate and mental toughness increasing as coach-athlete relationship increased in quality. This result implies that the positive effect of motivational climate on mental toughness depends on there being high quality coach-athlete relationships. Future psychological interventions aimed at increasing mental toughness in young athletes should also contemplate the quality of coach-athlete relationship.

This study examined outcomes of parents’ relational maintenance in terms of college students’ resilience, family communal coping, and stress. We employed the theory of resilience and relational load to examine the associations in the context of family communication. Participants included 322 college students who completed an online questionnaire. Results indicated that college students’ resilience mediates the relationship between parents’ relational maintenance strategies with them and their perceived stress, and that communal coping serves as a mediator between parents’ relational maintenance strategies and college students’ resilience. Lastly, a serial mediation model indicated that communal coping and college students’ resilience serially mediate the association between their parents’ relational maintenance strategies with them and their perceived stress. Overall, this study highlights the importance of parents employing parent-child relational maintenance tactics and the positive impacts for college students.

This study explores relationship quality among Greek couples, examining the roles of gender, age, and cultural influences. A total of 202 participants (84 men, 116 women; M age = 29.81, SD = 10.49) in diverse relationship statuses, primarily long-term romantic relationships (M duration = 7.92 years), completed questionnaires assessing relationship dimensions and quality. The study utilized a translated version of standardized relationship quality scales, and data were collected through an online survey administered via snowball sampling. The questionnaire assessed four key dimensions of relationship quality: Intimacy, Agreement, Independence, and Sexuality. While the study employed a cross-sectional design, a potential limitation is the sampling method, which may affect the generalizability of the results. The translated scales demonstrated good reliability (alphas = 0.69–0.95). Principal components analysis identified four key dimensions of relationship quality: Intimacy, Agreement, Independence, and Sexuality, explaining 44.8% of the variance. The findings highlight the significant role of relationship quality in determining relationship satisfaction, with implications for relationship counseling and interventions aimed at improving relationship dynamics, particularly in Greek cultural contexts. Mediation analyses revealed that relationship quality partially mediates the effect of intimacy on satisfaction, fully mediates the effect of agreement, but does not mediate the effects of sexuality or independence. This study contributes to the existing literature by offering new insights into relationship quality within the context of Greek couples, an underexplored area in relationship research. These findings highlight the complex factors shaping relationship satisfaction and emphasize the cultural context’s role in assessing relationship quality. Compared to previous research, this study offers insights into how relationship dynamics function within the Greek cultural setting, contributing to broader discussions on relationship quality in Mediterranean and collectivist cultures.

Female participation in NCAA athletics has grown significantly since the passage of Title IX—the 1972 U.S. federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in educational programs and activities receiving federal funding—yet much of the existing research continues to focus on male athletes, leaving important gaps in our understanding of women’s experiences in collegiate sports. One underexamined area with important public health implications is the role of coach–athlete relationships in shaping female athletes’ mental health, access to resources, and overall collegiate experience. This exploratory study draws on in-depth interviews with 19 former female NCAA athletes to examine how their relationships with coaches influenced their athletic careers, mental health, and perceptions of support. Participants represented a range of sports and competitive levels, allowing for variation in experiences across contexts. Findings reveal that coach–athlete relationships are not only central to performance and motivation but also serve as key sources of emotional, social, and material support—or, in some cases, stress and disengagement. The quality and impact of these relationships were shaped by competitive pressures, team dynamics, and institutional expectations. This study underscores the importance of relational context in understanding the broader landscape of female NCAA athletes’ experiences and suggests that coach–athlete dynamics merit greater attention in both research and athletic program development. These findings underscore the relevance of coach–athlete dynamics as a public health concern, particularly in relation to mental health and emotional well-being in competitive sports environments. Supporting healthier relational cultures in collegiate athletics is essential for promoting positive health outcomes among female student-athletes.

While relational maintenance has been found to be an important aspect of interpersonal relationships within the face‐to‐face world, the nature of relational maintenance among partners within computer‐mediated relationships is a relatively unexplored area. This study examined the use of maintenance strategies and perceptions of relational partners among (N = 178) undergraduate students within exclusively Internet‐based and primarily Internet‐based relationships. The findings indicated that positivity and openness were the most frequently used maintenance strategies. People who used positivity and on‐line activities had higher perceptions of attitude similarity than people using avoidance strategies, and people who used positivity and openness perceived their partner's quality of communication to be higher than those who used other strategies. People maintaining primarily Internet‐based relationships had higher relational communication and background similarity scores than people maintaining exclusively Internet‐based relationships. Finally, people maintaining exclusively Internet‐based relationships had different perceptions of on‐line friends and acquaintances based upon their frequency of on‐line interaction.

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the mediating role of positive psychological capital in the relationship between the coach–athlete relationship and athletic behaviors of adolescent athletes.<br/> Method: A sample of 345 middle and high school athletes was recruited using convenience sampling. To achieve the research objectives, the collected data were analyzed using frequency analysis, descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and reliability analysis. Additionally, correlation analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) were employed to test the hypothesized relationships between variables.<br/> Results: First, the coach–athlete relationship among youth athletes had a positive effect on positive psychological capital. Second, the coach–athlete relationship had a positive effect on athletic behavior. Third, positive psychological capital had a positive effect on athletic behavior among youth athletes. Finally, positive psychological capital was found to partially mediate the relationship between the coach– athlete relationship and athletic behavior.<br/> Conclusion: The findings indicate that a positive coach–athlete relationship enhances positive psychological capital in adolescent athletes. Positive psychological capital appears to be a prerequisite for promoting athletic behavior and partially mediates the relationship between the coach–athlete relationship and athletic behavior, thereby further facilitating positive athletic behaviors.

The current study, adopting community resilience and social creativity, explores Black individuals’ relational maintenance and collectivist strategies employed amid the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample of 410 Black adults across the United States answered open-ended web-based survey questions about identifiable shifts in relational dynamics and examples of mutual support exhibited among community members amid COVID-19. Findings include individuals implementation of media technologies to maintain communication and social support, the groups’ concentrated efforts toward providing health and wellness-based information, increased communal interaction, and the redistribution of monetary donations and volunteerism to support organizations promoting gender and racial equity. Outcomes demonstrate that Black populations embrace collectivist-orientated tendencies as a means of community resilience, extending the community resilience framework amid the ongoing crisis and absent of specific geographic location.

During a wartime deployment, there is variability in relational partners’ physical and/or psychological presence as they prepare for, or recover from, the separation. This variability may influence how relational partners communicate to sustain the relationship. In this article, we explore the relationship maintenance strategies that 50 Army wives experienced during a wartime deployment. Our data suggest military wives use a variety of maintenance strategies to keep their marriages at a desired level throughout a deployment process, some of which occur prior to deployment whereas other strategies happen after the reunion. We also identified four maintenance paradoxes that occurred when certain maintenance strategies appeared to be associated with unintended consequences. We examine the maintenance strategies and paradoxes through the frames of social presence theory and ambiguous loss to better understand the maintenance of military marriages during wartime in regard to different levels of physical and psychological presence. Taken together, this study suggests Army wives utilize a variety of relationship maintenance strategies, but the difficult circumstances of a wartime deployment may influence the enactment of the strategies and their potential outcomes at both an individual and relational level.

This study examined whether the theoretic role of equity in predicting relational maintenance strategies is modified by participant country and culture. Research on equity theory in relationships has been conducted primarily in the United States and Western Europe. We argue that equity theory predictions regarding relational communication probably change according to the countries and values under consideration. People from six countries self-reported their assessments of equity and recent relational maintenance strategy use. To assess cultural values, we used Inglehart and Welzel's (2005) cultural map based on the World Values Survey (WVS) results and assigned participants' codes that reflect their country's cultural values: Survival/Self-Expression and Traditional/Secular values. Findings for the entire sample reveal that self-reported relational maintenance strategies vary as equity theory predicts, which probably was due primarily to United States and Spanish responses and slightly to Japanese self-reports of one maintenance strategy. The predicted equity-maintenance links did not emerge for China, South Korea, and the Czech Republic. Secular values decreased the overall self-reports of relational maintenance use. Finally, Self-Expression values altered the influence of overbenefitedness (but not underbenefitedness) on self-reported maintenance behaviors. Still, being overbenefited resulted in fewer self-reported relational maintenance strategies, regardless of one's country or level of cultural modernization.