Temporal associations between psychological climate and coach-rated team performance in sport

Abstract

This study provides the first empirical test of the Practice Environment Model’s (PEM) proposition that athletes’ psychological climate perceptions are temporally related to subsequent team functioning. We examined whether daily psychological climate appraisals, collected via high-frequency digital monitoring, were associated with coach-rated team performance, and whether they offered added value beyond traditional perceived wellness assessments. Using the MIMIR platform, daily data were collected from 48 NCAA Division II athletes across men’s soccer, women’s soccer, and women’s tennis teams. A time-lagged correlational design assessed whether psychological climate or perceived wellness ratings were linked to coach-rated performance on subsequent days. Results showed that psychological climate was significantly associated with coach ratings in several contexts, with the strongest and most sustained relationships observed in women’s tennis, extending up to a five-day lag. In contrast, perceived wellness ratings showed no consistent associations with performance across teams or terms. These findings offer initial support for the PEM’s climate–performance feedback loop and identify psychological climate as a potentially valuable indicator of team functioning in applied sport. Future research should examine potential moderators and mechanisms to guide targeted climate-based interventions.