Peer-initiated motivational climate, mental health and adherence in competitive youth sport

Abstract

Through interactions with important social agents (coaches, parents, and peers), youth athletes will infer that being successful in sport falls somewhere along the continuum between (a) improvement and hard work and (b) winning at all costs. The environment created as a result of these interactions has important implications for athlete mental health and future sport participation. This study examined the relationships between peer-initiated motivational climate, athlete wellbeing, and intention to return to the team. Youth athletes ( N = 130; Mage = 13.45 years) from nine competitive ice hockey teams completed a questionnaire near the end of season. Using mixed-effects linear modeling, findings revealed that a task-related peer climate significantly predicted wellbeing ( β = 0.32, 95% CI [0.18, 0.47]) and intention to return ( β = 0.43, 95% CI [0.17, 0.68]), whereas an ego-related peer climate was not significantly related to wellbeing ( β = 0.10, 95% CI [−0.07, 0.26]) or intentions to return ( β = −0.29, 95% CI [−0.58, 0.01]).