Opposites attract? Mixed-sex parents' and siblings' sport participation differentiates youth athletes' perceived parenting climates

Abstract

Guided by family systems and achievement goal theories, this study examined how the sex of athletes and their main sport parents, as well as sport participation patterns (same sport, different sports, and no sports) of parent–athlete and sibling sex compositions (same-sex and mixed-sex), differentiated athlete perceptions of parenting climates—task-involving (emphasizing individual improvements, effort, and mastery) and ego-involving (emphasizing winning and performance comparison). Participants were 353 U.S. high school athletes (M_age = 15.52 and SD = 1.18; 55% male) who completed a survey on perceived parenting climates, family compositions, and sport backgrounds of their parents and siblings. We conducted six moderated regression analyses, two of which used (1) athlete sex and main sport parents' sex, (2) sport participation patterns of parent–athlete sex compositions, or (3) sport participation patterns of sibling sex compositions as independent variables. Four of the analyses were statistically significant with small effect sizes, showing that (1) boys perceived greater ego-involving climates than girls; (2) athletes whose same-sex parents played sports (same or different sports) compared to no sports-perceived greater task-involving climates: (3) athletes whose mixed-sex parents played (same or different sports) compared to no sports-perceived greater task-involving climates and less ego-involving climates; and (4) athletes whose mixed-sex siblings played different sports than they did, compared no sports, and perceived greater task-involving climates. None of the interactions were significant. Findings provide theoretical and practical implications by incorporating motivational climates, addressing the potential relationships of parents' and mixed-sex siblings' sport participation to adaptive parenting climates.