Coaches' Immediacy Behaviors as Predictors of Athletes' Perceptions of Satisfaction and Team Cohesion

Abstract

This study sought to determine whether coaches' immediacy behaviors serve as predictors of athletes' satisfaction and team cohesion levels. Participants included 307 male and female high school athletes who completed measures assessing perceptions of their coaches' verbal and nonverbal immediacy behaviors, as well as their own levels of satisfaction and cohesion. Overall, results indicated that immediacy behaviors accounted for between 9% and 19% of the variance attributed to athletes' satisfaction and team cohesion levels. Specifically, hierarchical regression analysis indicated that coaches' verbal immediacy emerged as the only significant predictor of athletes' satisfaction in their sport, after accounting for athlete playing status and team success. Likewise, the results indicated that coaches' verbal immediacy behaviors were significant predictors of three of the four dependent measures of team cohesion, while perceived nonverbal immediacy behaviors emerged as a predictor for social attraction to group, and were the only significant predictor of task group integration. Discussion focuses on the implications, both empirical and theoretical, for how findings related to coach–athlete interaction can be used to advance our understanding of instructional communication.