The Father in Youth Baseball: A Self-Determination Theory Approach.

Manuel De La Cruz,Isabel Castillo,Jorge Zamarripa

doi:10.3390/ijerph18094587

Abstract

This study based on the self-determination theory aims to examine the relationship among the aspirations that fathers have about their children’s youth baseball practice, the children’s basic psychological needs (satisfaction and frustration), and their intentions to either continue or drop out of baseball practice in a sample of children from Hermosillo, Mexico. A cross-sectional study was carried out involving 533 fathers (M = 44.30, SD = 5.18) and 533 children (M = 13.09, SD = 1.68). The results showed that the intrinsic aspirations of fathers were positively correlated to the satisfaction of the children’s psychological needs, whereas the extrinsic aspirations of fathers were positively correlated with the frustration of the children’s psychological needs. Satisfaction of basic psychological needs was positively correlated with the intention to continue and negatively correlated with dropout; on the contrary, frustration of basic psychological needs was negatively correlated with the intention to continue and positively with dropout. In conclusion, the fathers’ pursuit of intrinsic aspirations for their children in the youth baseball context satisfies the children’s basic psychological needs, and in turn, their intention to continue practicing increases. Conversely, when a father pursues extrinsic aspirations for his son in youth baseball, the child will feel his basic psychological needs frustrated, and he will have a greater intention to drop out. Overall, this study extends the existing sport-scientific literature by confirming the impact of parents’ aspirations on their children’s basic psychological needs and intention to continue being baseball players.

Highlights

Many factors influence people’s behavior toward sports [1]
The purpose of this work based on the self-determination theory (SDT) [8] was to test a model postulating that the fathers’ aspirations would be associated with the satisfaction or frustration of their children’s basic psychological needs (BPN), which would lead to a greater intention either to continue or drop out from baseball practice
Frustration, and our hypothesis H1 is rejected. This negative relationship was significant at the correlation of variables level. This is when the father has intrinsic aspirations for his child to play baseball so that he obtains personal growth, the feeling of contributing to improve society, close relationships that are of great value to him, and good physical health; in these circumstances, the child will become satisfied with his baseball skills, he will feel that there is congruence between what he wants to do and what he does, and he will feel appreciated by others in baseball

Summary

Introduction

Many factors influence people’s behavior toward sports [1]. Among these factors is family influence, which relies on developing interests and skills that reinforce active behavior [2]. Psychological theories assume that the values, the norms, and the behavioral model are transmitted through parent–child relationships [3]. From this perspective, physical–sports socialization is a modeling process in which a group of significant others, such as parents, constitute an important social influence model for people [4], and where the father plays a more dominant role than the mother in shaping their children’s perceptions and affective outcomes [5,6,7]. Intrinsic aspirations are a congruent expression of a human being’s natural desire for growth and self-realization, and include affiliation (close relationships), which refers to having satisfactory relationships with family and friends; community involvement (community contributions), which means improving the world through activism and generativity; physical condition (health), namely feeling healthy and free of ailments; and self-acceptance (personal growth) as regards the

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion