The ‘good’ environment in talent development: A person-oriented prospective study of the parent–coach system

The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare the leadership preferences for the set of five dimensions of leader behavior i.e. training and instruction,democratic behavior, autocratic behavior, social support and positive feedback of state level and female wrestler players. Two hundred sixty four (Males=140, females =124)state levelwrestler players representing their respective university in state competitions and who volunteered their participate in this study, were selected to serve as subjects for this study. The subjects were in age group of 18 to 23 years. The subjects were selected from among the male and female Wrestler players taken part in State competitions The leadership scale for sports development and prepared by P. Chelladuri was used to measure the preferred leader behavior of State level male and female Wrestler players on five dimension of leader behavior i.e. training and instruction, democratic behavior, autocratic behavior, social support and positive feedback. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to see the significance of difference between means of male Wrestler players on various dimensions of preferred leadership behavior which resulted significant f-ratio (20.934). further application of Scheffe‟s test of post-hoc comparisons indicated that State level male Wrestler players of proffered their coaches more of training and instruction (4.352) followed by positive feedback (4.243), social support (3.813), democratic behavior (3.057), and autocratic behavior (3.643). as the paired mean difference between training and instruction – social support (.439) followed by positive feedback (.109), autocratic behavior (1.295) and democratic behavior (.709) : social support – positive feedback (.430) followed by autocratic behavior (.756), democratic behavior (.070) : positive feedback – autocratic behavior (.186) followed by democratic behavior (.600) and autocratic behavior – democratic behavior (.586) were higher than C.I. In case of female Wrestler players, ANOVA was also applied to see the difference between means of five dimensions of preferred leadership which resulted significant f-ration (112.603). the applications of Scheffe‟s rest of posthoc comparison indicated that State level female players of cross country also preferred in greater amount o training and instruction (4.441) followed by positive feedback (4.251),social support(3.823), democratic behavior (3.544), and autocratic behavior (2.857). as the paired mean difference between training and instruction – social support (.598) followed by positive feedback (.191), autocratic behavior (1.584) and democratic behavior (.898) : social support – positive feedback (.427) followed by autocratic behavior (.966), democratic behavior (.270) : positive feedback – autocratic behavior (.393) followed by democratic behavior (.707) and autocratic behavior – democratic behavior (.686) were higher than C.I. To find out the significance of difference between means scores of preferences on leader behavior dimension of male and female Wrestler players, t-ratio was computed. The State level male and female Wrestler players expressed significantly similar preferences on democratic behavior (1.10), autocratic behavior (1.877), social support (.154) and positive feedback (.111) but the State level male and female Wrestler players were significant difference in training and instruction (2.00).

This study aims to determine the Leadership Behavior and Challenges of Swimming Coaches in the Province of Albay. The participants of the study include 30 swimming coaches in the 1st and 2nd district of Albay during the school year 2017- 2019. Purposive sampling was used in this study. The researcher utilized the mixed method of research, the Quantitative and Qualitative design. Findings showed that majority of respondents are typically married men in their late 30s. Most of the swimming coaches attended the same trainings and seminars in swimming. The most or strongly observed behavior among the coaches are the training and instruction behavior and positive feedback or rewarding behavior. It only shows that they focused more on the training process towards the athlete's improvement. Autocratic behavior ranked last among the leadership behaviors. Coaches who exhibit this type of behavior must concentrate on the training process in order to enhance their athletes' results. They must be able to teach an athlete/swimmer how to learn the requisite skills. The coaching leadership style should be suited to the situation. Excellent coaches can switch between styles automatically, depending on the behavior of the athlete and the task at hand. Among the five leadership behaviors, autocratic is the least effective and the most effective is the positive feedback followed by training and instruction, democratic and social support. The swimming coaches in the Province of Albay are less practicing the democratic nor the autocratic style of coaching. The level of effectiveness of the leadership behavior showed that coaches exhibited a higher leadership style in training and instruction followed by positive feedback, social support, and democratic and low in autocratic behavior. Swimming coaches should keep their swimmers motivated whether they are losing or winning. On the other hand, during the interview, the swimming coaches in the Albay Province enumerated several issues and concerns that need immediate action or attention. The researcher developed an action plan to address the challenges faced by the swimming coaches along with democratic behavior, autocratic behavior, training behavior, social support, and positive feedback.

This research was aimed at evaluating the psychometric properties of Lithuanian version of Leadership Scale for Sports (LSS). The work applied Leadership Scale for Sports (Chelladurai and Saleh, 1980), which comprises 40 items grouped in five subscales: ‘training and instruction’, ‘democratic behaviour’, ‘autocratic behaviour’, ‘social support’ and ‘positive feedback’. The adaptation of the scale was carried out it the following stages: forward translation (1), expert panel back translation (2), pre-testing and cognitive interview (3), preparation and application of the final version (4). The participants of the research included basketball players aged between 12 and 18 years old (boys, n = 227). Test-retest reliability with regard to repeated research was carried out 3 weeks subsequently after the primary research. The participants of the research had to evaluate every statement of Leadership Scale for Sports using a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’. In order to evaluate the internal consistency of LSS and its subscales, Cronbachs’s Alpha coefficient has been calculated, the scale stability in respect of repeated research has been measured using Spearman-Brown coefficient. The analysis of research data has been carried out using SPSS 21.0. Research results confirmed the reliability of LSS in respect of repeated research (Spearman-Brown 0.816). The rates of internal consistency confirmed compatibility of questions according to the phenomenon being measured (Cronbach Alpha 0,911). The rates of internal consistency among LSS subscales ‘training and instruction’, ‘democratic behaviour’, ‘social support’ and ‘positive feedback’ ranged from 0,709 to 0,883, subscale ‘autocratic behaviour’ – 0,583. The analysis of LSS subscales demonstrated a strong correlation between ‘social support’ and ‘democratic behaviour’ (r = 0.700, p < 0.01). There was a moderate correlation between ‘training and instruction’ and ‘democratic behaviour’ (r = 0.585, p < 0.01), ‘training and instruction’ and ‘social support’ (r = 0.609, p < 0.01). ‘Positive feedback’ correlated with ‘social support’ (r = 0.484, p < 0.01) and coach’s ‘democratic behaviour’ (r = 0.506, p < 0.01). Research results showed that LSS is suitable for opinion evaluation of basketball players aged between 12 and 18 in respect to coach leadership, however, the evaluation of items in subscale ‘autocratic behaviour’ could be specified. Keywords: Leadership Scale for Sports, psychometric properties, basketball players. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15823/sm.2017.12

Using self-determination theory (SDT) as a framework, this study tested whether perceived competence, autonomy and relatedness mediated the relationships between perceived coaching behaviors and athletes' intrinsic motivation (IM). Male and female college athletes (N = 280) completed questionnaires assessing perceived coaching behaviors (i.e., training and instruction, positive feedback, social support, and autocratic and democratic behavior), as well as their IM, perceptions of competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Structural equation modeling revealed support for a mediational effect. Specifically, results indicated that all of the coaching behaviors, with the exception of social support, significantly predicted perceived competence, autonomy and/or relatedness, which, in turn, predicted IM. Only perceived autocratic and democratic behaviors had a significant indirect effect on IM. Results are discussed in relation to SDT and coaching effectiveness.

An examination of coach and peer leader behaviors in sport

Who’s on BoardGauging Team Commitment among Collegiate Baseball Players through Their Coaches’ Bases of Power Kevin Warneke (bio) and Dave Ogden (bio) Sports coaches who believe they merely must be adept at evaluating talent, calling plays, and scouting opponents may be underestimating the scope of their responsibilities. Coaches, as with workplace supervisors, must understand how to achieve optimal results from their subordinates (i.e., players). Basically, they must understand what makes their players tick. Decades of research have focused on supervisor-subordinate relationships in the workplace. Supervisors must be cognizant of social bases of power their subordinates give them, how their subordinates are motivated, and how to gauge their subordinates’ commitment to their organization. Baseball coaches and managers are no different. They, too, must understand that their players may be motivated by different means. Managers must understand that some players may view them as experts—and readily follow their instructions. Other players, however, will view them as people who can reward their actions and punish them for miscues—and readily follow their instructions. The results may be the same, but the courses of action taken to achieve them are different. This study takes tenets of leadership and organizational loyalty and applies them to the baseball dugout. By examining the correlations between bases of power given to coaches by subordinates, and players’ commitment to their teams, coaches may better understand how to interact with their players. Such interactions may, in turn, optimize the chances of developing players properly and winning games. Those correlations are addressed through the following research questions: RQ1: Does organizational commitment grow stronger the longer a player is with a college team? RQ2: Does organizational commitment vary among players based on the position they play? [End Page 67] RQ3: Does organizational commitment negatively correlate with coercive power? RQ4: Does organizational commitment positively correlate with reward power (or legitimate power, expert power, and referent power)? RQ5: Do correlations between organizational commitment and the various types of social power differ among players based on the position they play? RQ6: Does the player’s legitimate power given to the coach decrease the longer a player is with a college team? RQ7: Does the player’s reward power given to the coach decrease the longer a player is with a college team? RQ8: Does the player’s expert power given to the coach decrease the longer a player has been with a college team? Literature Review Adults play an integral role in the development of youth in sports. Athletes typically experience organized sports for the first time under the tutelage of volunteer adult coaches. While most coaches understand the strategy of their sports, they may not be adept at understanding the effects their behaviors have on players. They also may not be proficient at reading the behavioral cues players express. Researchers, during the past decades, have focused on how coaches interact with their players. “In essence, researchers studied coaching behaviors and not ‘traits’ or characteristics.”1 Some researchers have developed a meditational model of coach-player interactions.2 Its basic elements are coach behaviors, which lead to athlete perception and recall, which lead to athletes’ evaluative reactions. The premise of their model stipulates that the way players interpret their coaches’ behaviors affects the way they evaluate their sports experience. The research is ripe with examples of studies that focus on player reaction to and interpretation of coach behavior. In addition, evaluating coach-player relationships has led to insight on team cohesion, player feelings, the motivational forces behind coach and player satisfaction, and the way athletes describe their physical selves.3 Other scholars have examined the relationship between perceived leadership behaviors and team cohesion in high school and junior college baseball and softball teams. Those scholars found, in their study of 307 athletes from twenty-three teams, that teams were more cohesive with coaches who were perceived as high in training and instruction, democratic behavior, social support, and positive feedback, and low in autocratic behavior.4 [End Page 68] Simo Salminen and Jarmo Liukkonen measured coach-athlete relationships using the Leadership Scale for Sports with 66 Finnish coaches and their 400 athletes as participants. Results indicated that coaches who pay attention...

In a time of instability caused by adolescence, sport may represent a resource to prevent future individual and social problems. Within the complex relationships developed in social sports contexts, the figure of the coach can be fundamental for the development of a beneficial environment. The objective of the research was to investigate the relationship between the teaching methods and leadership profile of the coach and outcomes on the perception of positive development of young people participating in an after school sports program. In total participated, 910 adolescents (14.0 ± 1.8 years) and 57 coaches (45.57 ± 7.25 years) in 37 public schools in the city of Curitiba, in the state of Paraná-Brazil. Ordinal logistic regression was used to verify the independent associations between the variables sex, category, sport, trainer methodology, perception of the coaches, and perception of the athletes with the tertiles of the scores of each developmental characteristic of the young athletes (personal and social skills, cognitive skills, goal setting, and initiative). Odds ratios (OR) were obtained with a 95% confidence interval (95%CI), adopting p < 0.05. The small sized games method were positively associated with cognitive skills and goal setting. Positive associations were also found between athletes' perceptions of the leadership profile of coaches with: personal and social skills (instructor, democratic behaviour, social support, and positive feedback), cognitive skills (instructor, democratic behaviour, and social support), goal setting (instructor, social support, and positive feedback), and initiative (instructor and positive feedback). In addition, the athletes' perception of the coaches' autocratic behaviour was inversely associated with personal and social skills and goal setting. For the evaluated program, the results suggest the choice, on the part of the coaches, of small sized games, combined with a democratic, affective, motivating leadership profile that provides instructions on technical skills and game strategies. The combination of the designated psych-pedagogical aspects is correlated to the positive development of young people through team sports.

Coaching leadership in sport was important because the coach-athlete relationship was considered as a crucial factor in the sport setting. Though leadership theories have been developed for a few decades, research topics related to leadership behaviors in high school settings are understudied. The purpose of the study was to examine the coaching leadership behaviors of high school head basketball coaches in Hong Kong utilizing the Leadership Scale for Sports. One hundred and twelve basketball coaches were invited to participate in the study: 56 coaches from the winning teams and another 56 coaches from the losing teams. Mixed-design 2 × 5 ANOVA indicated there was significant (p p Teaching and Instruction as well as Positive Feedback than Social Support, Democratic Behavior, and Autocratic Behavior. The mean scores as determined by the five dimensions of the LSS were in the following descending order: Positive Feedback, Training and Instruction, Social Support, Democratic Behavior, and Autocratic Behavior. The importance and application of these five coaching behaviors were discussed in detail.

The relationship between perceived leadership behaviors and team cohesion in high school and junior college baseball and softball teams was researched. Study participants, 307 athletes representing 23 teams, responded to the perceived version of the Leadership Scale for Sports (LSS) and the Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ). Correlational and multivariate analyses indicated significant relationships between perceived leader behaviors and team cohesion. Specifically, coaches who were perceived as high in training and instruction, democratic behavior, social support, and positive feedback, and low in autocratic behavior, had teams that were more cohesive. A MANOVA indicated there were significant differences between genders and athletes at the two school levels in their perceptions of coaching behaviors and team cohesion, though these demographic variables did not significantly moderate the leadership-cohesion relationship.

Based on Carron’s (1982) model of cohesion, this study examined the relationship between perceived coaching behaviours and group cohesion in interacting sports teams among national junior athletes in Malaysia. The subjects, which were comprised of 150 athletes, were asked to respond to survey questions based on the Leadership Scale for Sports (LSS) and the Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ). The results suggest a significant relationship between coaching behaviours and team cohesion. Coaches who were perceived as engaging in democratic behaviours, higher levels of training and instruction, social support and positive feedback, tend to have athletes with higher levels of task and social cohesion within their teams.

The present study aimed to examine collegiate student-athletesˈpreferences of leadership behaviours in strength and conditioning (S&amp;C) coaching and evaluate differences between athletesˈpreferred leadership behaviours based on participantsˈsex. 145 (male = 80, female = 65) National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I and II student-athletes aged between 18-25 years, with a mean of 3 (SD = ±1) strength and conditioning sessions per week participated in the study. Participants completed an electronic questionnaire involving the athletesˈ preference version of the Revised Leadership Scale for Strength and Conditioning (RLSSC). Summary statistics revealed that the most preferred behaviour was ˈtraining and instructionˈ, median of 4.5 (IQR = 1.0), and the least preferred was ˈautocraticˈ, median of 2.0 (IQR = 0.5). Similar results were observed for both groups. Males preferred autocratic behaviour more than females (male = 2.5, female = 2.0). Statistically significant difference was identified between groups for autocratic behaviour (p = .001). Effect sizes indicated that the magnitude of differences between groups was small or moderate, with the highest value for autocratic behaviour (d = 0.5). The observation of marginal statistically significant difference aligns with previous research, suggesting sex-related differences. However, small and moderate effect sizes indicate that differences are not practically significant enough to encourage distinct coaching approaches. This study sheds light on the preferences of coaching behaviours among student-athletes in strength and conditioning coaching. The findings emphasise the importance of positive psychosocial behaviours such as training and instruction, positive feedback, situational considerations and social support. While there were slight differences between the sexes, results suggested that both groups valued positive coaching behaviours. These findings provide implications for coaching practice and offer a basis for further research to explore leadership coaching behaviours in strength and conditioning.

Previous studies have found that support that is uplifting in nature (i.e., positive social support) can have a positive influence on the spiritual well-being of individuals with chronic diseases. However, few studies have explored positive and negative social support's (i.e., the individual receiving the support feeling unsupported) impact. The purpose of this study is to assess the relationship between positive and negative social support and spiritual well-being among individuals of African descent with chronic illnesses. Survey items that focused on positive and negative social support as well as spiritual well-being were obtained from a secondary dataset, the National Survey of American Life. Missing imputation models were adjusted by demographic characteristics (gender, age, income, education, marital status, employment, length of stay in the U.S., insurance, and religious service attendance). Findings from the analysis revealed a positive association between positive social support and spiritual well-being (β: 0.07, SE: 0.01, p < 0.0001). No significant associations were observed between negative social support and spiritual well-being (β: 0.01, SE: 0.01, p = 0.51). Future researchers should continue to explore the impact of social support on the spiritual well-being of individuals of African descent through the implementation of a culturally tailored program designed to reduce chronic diseases within this population.

ObjectivesThe interaction between positive and negative social support as well as each domain of social support and income on depressive symptom has not been much explored. We aimed to examine...

Background While positive social support is associated with lower prevalence of disease and better treatment outcomes, negative social relationships can instead have unfavourable consequences for several physical and mental health conditions. However, the specific mechanisms by which this nexus might operate remain poorly understood. Hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis hyperactivity owing to psychosocial stress has been proposed as a potential pathway underlying the link between social support and health. Hair glucocorticoids such as cortisol and cortisone are emerging as promising biomarkers of long-term retrospective HPA activation. Therefore, the aim of this investigation was to examine the effects of positive and negative experiences of social support within key relationships (i.e. spouse/partner, children, other family members, and friends) on cortisol and cortisone. Methods These associations were tested in a sample of 2520 older adults (mean age 68.1) from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). Hair samples were collected in wave 6 (2012/13). To understand the impact of cumulative exposure to poor social support, the analysis used self-reported data from waves 4 (2008/09) and 6. Both aggregated and source-specific effects of social support were tested. Covariates included demographic characteristics, socioeconomic position, health behaviours, and hair characteristics. The analytical strategy was based on multiple linear regression, and missing data were estimated by multiple imputation. Results In cross sectional analyses, participants who reported lower positive or greater negative social support across all sources had higher levels of cortisol, as well as an elevated cortisol-to-cortisone ratio. Amongst the different components of social support, children exhibited the largest effects on both hormones. In longitudinal analyses, cortisol and the ratio were positively associated with the aggregated scores for cumulative exposure to poor social support, evaluated in retrospect over four years. Discussion Experiences of low positive and high negative social support, particularly from children, were both related to higher hair glucocorticoid levels. Hence, poorer quality of social relationships in later life may lead to higher psychosocial stress. This in turn could result in HPA-axis hyperactivity and increase the individual’s susceptibility to poor health. Health and social care interventions should therefore highlight the importance of improving the quality of social relationships, rather than merely enhancing social interactions, in order to reduce stress and ameliorate health.

Multidimensional models of leadership in sport suggest that in order to maximize performance there should be congruence between the actual coaching behaviour and behaviours preferred by players. This study examined the preferred coaching leadership behaviours in prolonged periods of perceived success and failure in eighty-eight elite soccer players in Norway using the Leadership Scale for Sport (LSS). The three preferred behaviours were Positive Feedback, Training &amp; Instruction, and Democratic Behaviour in both scenarios. All preferred behaviours (except Autocratic Behaviour) were higher in the unsuccessful scenario (p &lt;.01). Negative relationships existed between age/experience and Social Support, Democratic Behaviours and Positive Feedback in the successful scenario and between age/experience and Social Support and Democratic Behaviours in the unsuccessful scenario (p &lt;.05). The findings therefore have implications for adapting coaching leadership behaviours when players of different ages and with different levels of experience encounter prolonged periods of success or failure.