Abstract
The purposes of this study were to characterize the achievement goals and sportsmanlike attitudes in young soccer players and their association with perceived pressure from different significant social agents (parents/family, coaches, teammates and friends). The sample of the study was comprised of 118 young soccer players, aged between 11 and 19 years (M= 14.68, SD= 2.16). Athletes had 5.40 ± 2.39 years of sport experience and 71 (60.2%) of the athletes had competed at a regional level, while 47 (39.8%) had participated in national competitions. Participants completed a socio-demographic survey, the Task and Ego Orientation in Sports Questionnaire and the Sports Values Questionnaire. The statistical analyses involved univariate normality and descriptive, comparative and correlational analyses. Results revealed that task orientation was positively correlated with sportsmanlike attitudes (r= 0.47, p<0.01) and negatively associated with unsportsmanlike attitudes (r= −0.46, p<0.01), whereas ego orientation effects were contrary (sportsmanlike attitudes: r= −0.33, p<0.01 and unsportsmanlike attitudes: r= 0.42, p<0.01). Perceived pressures from all significant social agents were positively and significantly associated with unsportsmanlike attitudes (p<0.05), with perceived pressure from coaches also being associated with higher ego orientation scores and with lower task orientation and sportsmanlike attitudes in young soccer players. In summary, these results indicate the need for coaches and other social agents to promote a competition climate that reinforces self-referenced improvements and the expression of positive social attitudes in sports contexts.
Highlights
The practice of sports activities by children and young people, namely soccer, is a matter that focuses the attention of various sectors and social agents
Results of the present study showed that, in general, the young soccer player participants revealed higher task orientation levels and greater tendencies to demonstrate sportsmanlike attitudes during the competition, whereas the correlation coefficients supported hypothetical relationships between the motivational orientations andsportsmanlike attitudes[2,3,13,14,15]
This study revealed that age was positively associated with ego orientation and with unsportsmanlike attitudes, whereas years of competitive experience only showed a positive correlation with ego orientation
Summary
The practice of sports activities by children and young people, namely soccer, is a matter that focuses the attention of various sectors and social agents. The practice of physical and sporting activities, as an influential factor in children’s and adolescents’ personality development, transports a hierarchy of values to the field of sporting activities that influences the involved social agents’ selection of objectives, contents and methods of teaching and learning. Intrinsic motivational or mastery orientation is associated with the process of sports participation (such as the development of skills, affiliation, physical fitness or fun) whereas the extrinsic or egooriented motivation is mainly related to the outcome of the participation (such as social approval, rewards, social status or winning)[6,7] Speaking, these two approaches reflect the orientation of an athlete to “be better” (task orientation) or to “be the best” (ego orientation). Individuals with an ego orientation tend to choose activities with easy or very difficult goals, in order to demonstrate high levels of skill or to avoid demonstrating low ability, respectively[6,8]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call