Verbal Aggressiveness and Leadership Style of Sports Instructors and Their Relationship with Athletes’ Intrisic Motivation

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine intrinsic motivation of athletes and its relation with instructors’ verbal aggressiveness and leadership style. The sample of the study consisted of 168 athletes (95 boys and 73 girls), 15 - 19 years old (M = 16.5, SD = 0.5), participating in different individual and team sports (basketball, volleyball, football, long jump, pole vault, 200 m). Every participant completed three questionnaires, the Verbal Aggressiveness Questionnaire, the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory, and the Leadership Scale for Sports. The results revealed differences existing among variables of the instruments in terms of sex and type of sport (individual or team sport and contact or non contact sport). Pearson correlation revealed a significant positive relationship of coaches’ verbal aggressiveness with anxiety, autocratic style, and a negative significant relationship concerning coaches’ verbal aggression with enjoyment, ability, effort, and democratic style. Findings and implications for instructors’ type of communication were discussed and future research suggestions were included.