Department of Sport Psychology, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
چکیده
Introduction: Little research exists to identify optimal coaching behaviors and factors that influence the sport commitment in young athletes. Therefore, latent profile analysis was used to determine if heterogeneous profiles emerged from the interactive effects of coaching styles (autonomy-supportive, controlling) and the subsequent association with passion, fear of failure, and sport commitment (enthusiastic, constrained) in competitive youth athletes.
Methods: A total of 301 elite young athletes (14-20 years) participated in this study and completed a battery of inventories assessing sport commitment, passion, fear of failure, autonomy-supportive coaching style, and controlling coaching style. A series of latent profile analyses were performed to identify discrete profiles/subgroups of need-supportive and controlling coaching.
Results: A series of latent profile analyses pointed toward a three-cluster solution (e.g., low–low, high–low, and low–high), regardless of the pair of coaching dimensions used. Cluster 1 represents coaches who are perceived to be relatively low on autonomy-support and controlling coaching style (low-low). Cluster 2 and 3 yielded an opposite pattern, with cluster 2 representing coaches who are perceived to be low on controlling but high on being autonomy- support (high-low) and cluster 3 involving coaches who are perceived to be low on autonomy-support and high on controlling (low-high). Individuals within the Cluster 2 reported relatively higher levels of harmonic passion and enthusiastic commitment in sport than individuals in the Cluster 1 and Cluster 3. Indirect path analyses found the coaching profiles were linked with commitment (enthusiastic, constrained) through athlete passion, and fear of failure.
Conclusion: Overall, findings highlighted the important combined role of passion, and fear of failure and coaching style in understanding and explaining athlete’s sport commitment, which in turn may impact on the development of sport commitment among young athletes. Coaches working with young performers should avoid using controlling mechanisms and instead foster autonomous functioning.
