The importance of the football coach on Norwegian adolescents' competence: A cross sectional study of the association between coach created climate and adolescent motivation.
Abstract
Introduction: Organised physical activity has been suggested as specifically conducive for adolescents’ physical and psychological health. This thesis employed a health promotion approach to investigate the associations between different perceived coaching climates and competence among Norwegian youth football players. Method: The analyses were based on the PAPA project-survey, conducted in 2011. The total sample was 1044 football players, consisting of 612 boys and 432 girls aged 12-14 years. Perceived competence was measured using the Basic Need Satisfaction in Sport Scale. Perceived coach-created climate was measure by three distinct scales indicating task-, ego-, and controlling climate. The influence of coach-created climate variables on perceived competence were tested through correlation analysis, two-way ANOVA and regression analyses performed in SPSS. Results: Perceived competence was positively associated with perceived task climate for both genders and over age, and negatively associated with ego climate and controlling climate. Perceived competence and perception of the motivational climate being task-oriented decreased over age for both genders while perception of the climate being ego-oriented and controlling increased. Perceived task climate showed to be a strong predictor of perceived competence, even after controlling for positive affect. Discussion: Task climate seemed to be especially beneficial for perception of competence among adolescents. The results from this study support findings from others studies on coach-created climate with a focus on mastery and its influence on adolescent’s wellbeing. Nevertheless, task climate is the most recommended motivational climate to support competence and maximise the psychological benefits of organised physical activities.