Mutual Influence of Parents and Peers in Autonomous Athletic Motivation in Early Adolescence

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to longitudinally examine the effects of parent and peer motivational climate on sport autonomy motivation in early adolescent athletes. We hypothesized that parents' performance-oriented motivational climate would negatively affect player autonomy, but peers' mastery-oriented motivational climate would moderate negative effects on player autonomy. Participants were 74 soccer players (66 male, 8 female) who completed the study at two time points separated by one year, with a mean age of 11.04 years (SD=0.71 years) at the first time point. At Time 1, a self-report questionnaire measured soccer competence (The Basic Needs Satisfaction in Sport Scale; BNSSS) as a control variable and parent-initiated motivational climate (Parent-Initiated Motivational Climate Questionnaire 2; PIMCQ-2) and peer motivational climate (Peer Motivational