Relationships among goal orientations, motivational climate and flow in adolescent athletes: differences by gender

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the relationships among perceived motivational climate, individuals' goal orientations, and dispositional flow, with attention to possible gender differences. A sample of 413 young athletes, ages 12 to 16 years, completed the Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire-2 (PMCSQ-2) and Perception of Success Questionnaire (POSQ), as well as the Dispositional Flow Scale. Task orientation was positively and significantly related to a perceived task-involving motivational climate and to the disposition to experience flow in the sport. Ego orientation was positively and significantly associated with a perceived ego-involving motivational climate and with dispositional flow. The perceptions of task-involving and ego-involving motivational climates were positively and significantly linked to general dispositional flow. Multiple regression analysis indicated that both task and ego goal orientations and perceived task- and ego-oriented climates predicted dispositional flow. Males displayed a stronger ego orientation, and were more likely to report that they participated in an ego-oriented climate, than did females. To the contrary, the females were more likely to perceive a task-oriented climate than did the males. No meaningful differences were found between males and females in general dispositional flow.     

Goal orientations, motivational climate, equality, and discipline of Spanish physical education students

This study analyzes how dispositional goal orientations and perception of different motivational climates are related to the students' perception of sex-related egalitarian treatment and the appearance of disciplined or undisciplined behaviors in physical education classes. Analyses showed that ego orientation is a predictor of undisciplined behavior. Task orientation was positively associated to discipline. The perception of task-involving motivational climate is related to the students' perception of equal treatment. On the contrary, the perception of ego-involving climate has been linked positively to the prediction of the perception of sex discrimination in physical education classes and negatively to the perception of equality and the appearance of disciplined behavior. This study discusses the implications of these results related to teaching instructional actions in physical education classes.     

Motivational climate, achievement goals, perceived sport competence, and involvement in physical activity: structural and mediator models

Students (N=231) were tested on involvement in physical activity, motivational climate, perceived sport competence, and goal orientations. Multiple regression, partial correlation, and LISREL analyses indicated that mastery goal adoption is positively correlated with a mastery climate. Performance-approach goal adoption is positively correlated with a performance climate. Mastery climate, mastery goal, and perceived sport competence are all positively correlated with involvement in physical activity. LISREL analyses supported three mediational hypotheses: (I) the positive correlation between the performance-approach goal and involvement in physical activity is mediated by (high) perceived sport competence, (II) the negative correlation between the performance-avoidance goal and involvement in physical activity is mediated by (low) perceived sport competence, (III) the positive correlation between mastery climate and involvement in physical activity is mediated by (high) mastery goal orientation. An alternative structural model with perceived competence as the last latent construct in the path was also tested.     

Effect of manipulating positive and negative feedback on goal orientations, perceived motivational climate, satisfaction, task choice, perception of ability, and attitude toward physical education lessons

This study examined the effect of different types of feedback on goal orientation, perception of motivational climate, satisfaction, and boredom in physical education (PE) classes, pupils' preferences for challenging versus easy tasks, pupils' attitudes towards PE lessons, and perception of gymnastic ability. 95 subjects in three treatment conditions (positive feedback, negative feedback, and both feedback types) participated in 14 lessons and completed pre- and postintervention measures. Results showed that subjects in the positive feedback group had significantly higher scores on learning-oriented motivational climate and enjoyment than the subjects of the negative feedback group. The negative feedback group reported higher scores on performance-oriented motivational climate than the positive feedback group. Results also showed that subjects in the group receiving both types of feedback had lower scores on learning-oriented motivational climate, higher scores on enjoyment than the negative feedback group, and lower scores on boredom than the positive feedback group. The effects of feedback on physical education students' motivation are discussed.     

A Test of Multiple Achievement Goal Benefits in Physical Education Activities

The independent and combined effects of achievement goals for physical education activities were investigated. Both dispositional goal orientations as well as perceived motivational goal climate were assessed, and the paper evaluated four different hypotheses for multiple goal benefits (additive, interactive, specialized, and selective hypotheses). It was hypothesized that students may benefit most from endorsing both task and ego orientations in their fitness activities, especially depending on their perceptions of the motivational climate. However, benefits of pursuing multiple goal orientations were not found. Instead, students reported putting forth more effort, enjoying their fitness activities more, feeling more competent in the activity, and persisting after the semester when they endorsed a task orientation or perceived the motivational climate to be task oriented.     

Young Tennis Players’ Competitive Task Involvement and Performance: The Role of Goal Orientations,Contextual Motivational Climate,And Coach-Initiated Motivational Climate

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of situational and dispositional factors in contributing to competitive task involvement and performance in young tennis players. One hundred fifty-one adolescent tennis players and their coaches participated in the study. Participants responded to instruments measuring pre-game dispositional goal orientations and perceptions of the motivational climate and post-game task involvement in the competition by assessing concentration, loss of self-consciousness, and autotelic experience, perceptions of coach-initiated motivational climate in competition, and self-evaluation of game performance. In addition, coaches evaluated the players’ performance. Results showed that task involvement was predicted by players’ perceptions of a coach-initiated learning motivational climate in competition. Loss of self-consciousness was predicted by the players’ perceptions of a coach-initiated performance climate in competition. Finally, coaches’ and players’ assessment of performance were predicted by autotelic experience, concentration, and by perception of coach-initiated learning and performance orientation in competition.     

Motivational profiles and flow in physical education lessons

The purpose of this study was to use cluster analysis to identify differences in goal orientation and motivational climate profiles among students in physical education classes as well as differences among the observed clusters on perceived flow experiences. 983 students of 14- to 15-yr.-olds (M = 14.8 yr., SD = 0.91) from a large Spanish metropolitan school district were participants and completed questionnaires assessing goal orientations, motivational climates, and perceived flow. Analysis showed three distinct clusters with 40.3% of the sample with a High Motivation cluster, 27.6% in a Low Motivation cluster, and 32.2% in a Mastery Motivation cluster. These three clusters differed significantly in ratings of perceived flow. Clusters also showed different composition by sex. Implications of these results with regard to instruction in physical education classes are discussed.     

Motivational-behavioral correlates of goal orientation and perceived motivational climate in physical education contexts.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how goal orientation (task and ego) and perceived motivational climate (mastery and performance) related to intrinsic motivation, self-esteem, adherence, and evaluated skill within Korean physical education contexts, 218 men attending physical education classes completed the Korean versions of the Perception of Success Questionnaire and the Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire, including a battery of motivational and behavioral assessments. Confirmatory factor analyses suggested that over-all fit for the modified versions of the questionnaires were reasonably acceptable. The results of canonical correlation analyses indicated that the task goal orientation was positively associated with intrinsic motivation and self-esteem, while the climate of perceived mastery was positively related to intrinsic motivation, adherence, and evaluated skill. These results were discussed within the frame of goal perspective theory in physical education contexts.     

Effects of school-based interventions on motivation towards physical activity in children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis

IntroductionAssuming that motivation is the key to initiate and sustain beneficial health behaviors, the aim of this systematic review was to analyze the effects of school-based physical activity interventions on a variety of motivational outcomes towards PA in school-aged children and adolescents.MethodsA comprehensive literature search was carried out in six electronic databases to identify randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental trials examining the effects of PA interventions implemented during the regular school day, e.g., during physical education lessons or lunch breaks. Primary outcomes of interest were students' motivation, basic psychological needs, goal orientation, enjoyment, and motivational teaching climate in physical education. Meta-analyses were conducted for these outcomes using Comprehensive Meta-analysis software. Secondarily, intervention effects on students' PA behaviors were examined and the findings summarized narratively. Methodological quality of studies was evaluated using the Cochrane Collaboration's tool for assessing risk of bias for randomized trials; certainty of evidence on outcome level was evaluated using the GRADE approach.ResultsIn total, 57 studies carried out between 2001 and 2018 were included in this review. Sixteen individual meta-analyses were performed and revealed significant pooled effects for the outcomes enjoyment (g = 0.310), perceived autonomy (g = 0.152), identified regulation (g = 0.378), intrinsic motivation (g = 0.419), self-determination index (g = 0.672), task/mastery climate (g = 0.254), ego/performance climate (g = −0.438), autonomy supportive climate (g = 0.262), task goal orientation (g = 1.370), ego goal orientation (g = −0.188). The narrative data synthesis indicated an increase in students' PA behavior. The overall risk of bias was high across all studies and certainty of evidence of meta-analyzed outcomes ranged from very low to moderate. Moderate certainty of evidence was found for ego/performance climate and ego goal orientation. Conclusions: Meta-analyses suggest that school-based PA interventions may be effective in increasing a variety of motivational outcomes. However, the certainty of evidence was limited in the majority of outcomes. Further research is needed to identify effective intervention strategies that increase students’ motivation towards PA.     

A one-year intervention in 7th grade physical education classes aiming to change motivational climate and attitudes towards exercise

Objectives: To assess the effects of a year-long intervention in Greek junior high school physical education on motivational climate, goal orientations and attitudes towards exercise and healthy diet.Design: One-year pre-post experimental trial.Method: Eighty-eight daily lessons aiming to facilitate task-involvement were developed with 262 students in an intervention group and 521 acting as controls. All were at the first year of junior high school (7th grade). The intervention was assessed through questionnaires at the beginning and end of the school year and 10 months after the end of the intervention. Participants completed the measures of motivational climate, goal orientations and attitudes.Results: Confirmatory factor analyses, and reliability and correlation analyses, supported the psychometric properties of the questionnaires. Covariance analysis results revealed that, after adjusting for initial differences on the assessed constructs, students who took part in the intervention, compared with the control group: (1) had more positive attitudes towards exercise and healthy eating, (2) had lower ego and higher task orientation scores, and (3) perceived that their teacher gave more emphasis on task-involvement and less emphasis on ego-involvement.Conclusions: Physical educators can create a positive motivational climate facilitating students’ task orientation and attitudes towards exercise.     

Achievement perspectives and perceived ability: how far do interactions generalize in youth sport?

Objectives: to explore the generalization of a central prediction of achievement goal theory (AGT), that maladaptive motivation patterns occur only when low (Lo) perceived ability accompanies comparative (Co) achievement perspectives. This prediction was tested independently for (a) dispositional orientations and (b) perceptions of the motivational climate in (i) a cross-sectional study of enjoyment, and (ii) a longitudinal study of persistence.Method: track and field athletes (n=138) aged 11 to 16 years completed measures of dispositional orientation, perceived motivational climate, perceived ability and enjoyment. The climate instrument was revised for conceptual equivalence to the dispositional one. One year later athletes were identified as persisters or non-persisters with their clubs.Results: in the enjoyment study, a series of orthogonal comparisons supported the predictions for both dispositional and situational profile groups: CoLo groups reported less enjoyment than the remaining groups. In the persistence study, logistic regression supported the prediction for situational but not dispositional data: three interactions showed that withdrawal was most likely in low perceived ability athletes who (a) perceived a Co climate, or (b) had a self-referenced (Sr) disposition, but also (c) in athletes with Sr dispositions who perceived a Co climate.Conclusions and recommendations: the interactive prediction of AGT was supported in three conditions. Alternative explanations are discussed for the fourth condition. It is recommended that further research should identify the boundary conditions under which AGT is operational, and related theories that explain additional variance.     

Self-efficacy as a mediator of children's achievement motivation and in-class physical activity

The present study was designed to examine the mediating effect of self-efficacy on relations of middle school students' four achievement goals with their perceptions of two motivational climates and in-class physical activity in physical education. The four achievement goals (mastery-approach, mastery-avoidance, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance), perceptions of the motivational climate (mastery- and performance-involving climates), and self-efficacy were measured in a sample of 194 students (93 boys, 101 girls) in a public school. Students' in-class physical activity was assessed using Actical Accelerometers. A series of multiple-regression analyses supported the mediating effect of self-efficacy on the relationships among students' mastery-approach goal, perceived mastery-involving climate, and physical activity.     

Active learning: effects of core training design elements on self-regulatory processes, learning, and adaptability

This article describes a comprehensive examination of the cognitive, motivational, and emotional processes underlying active learning approaches; their effects on learning and transfer; and the core training design elements (exploration, training frame, emotion control) and individual differences (cognitive ability, trait goal orientation, trait anxiety) that shape these processes. Participants (N = 350) were trained to operate a complex, computer-based simulation. Exploratory learning and error-encouragement framing had a positive effect on adaptive transfer performance and interacted with cognitive ability and dispositional goal orientation to influence trainees' metacognition and state goal orientation. Trainees who received the emotion-control strategy had lower levels of state anxiety. Implications for development of an integrated theory of active learning, learner-centered design, and research extensions are discussed.     

Motivational Climate and Achievement Goals at the Situational Level of Generality

Based on the rule of compatibility, according to which motivational climate scales should capture both the objective environment and whether it activates particular goals, a measure is presented assessing achievement goals and climate perceptions in physical education at a particular point of time. In Study 1, students completed the questionnaires following an experimental manipulation where eight classes had task-involving drills (n = 185 students), eight classes had ego-involving drills (n = 174 students) and nine classes (n = 221) served as the control group. Study 2 was an intervention consisting of nine consecutive physical education lessons. Students in the intervention group (n = 174) pursued mastery goals and control group students (n = 181) participated in typical classes. Questionnaires were completed prior to the intervention and every third lesson. The structure of the model consisting of four achievement goals (mastery, performance approach, performance avoidance, and social approval) and four perceptions of teachers' emphasis on these goals was satisfactory and superior to the structure of all alternative models. Factor correlation results and the relationship of the current scales with intrinsic-extrinsic motivation and amotivation provided evidence of convergent and divergent validity for the measures. Results from multi-sample confirmatory factor analyses supported the invariance of factor loadings across samples and the invariance of covariances for the goals construct. In both studies, the differences that emerged between groups provided additional support to the construct validity of the present scales. Practitioners interested in the effects of teaching and coaching on motivational climate and achievement goal adoption could acquire useful feedback using these scales.     

Perceptions of competence,implicit theory of ability,perception of motivational climate,and achievement goals: a test of the trichotomous conceptualization of endorsement of achievement motivation in the physical education setting

To test and extend the conceptualization of the endorsement of achievement goals in the physical education setting Mastery, Performance-approach, and Performance-approach goals, Perception of the physical education competence, Implicit theory about sport ability, and Perception of the motivational climate were assessed among 682 boys attending five French schools. Analysis indicated that (1) Performance-approach goals were positively associated with perception of physical education Competence, Entity beliefs about sport ability, the Performance dimension of the motivational climate, and negatively associated with Incremental beliefs about sport ability. (2) Mastery goals were positively associated with perception of physical education Competence, Incremental beliefs about sport ability, the Mastery dimension of the motivational climate, and negatively associated with the Performance dimension of the motivational climate. Also, (3) Performance-avoidance goals were positively associated with Entity beliefs about sport ability and the Performance dimension of the motivational climate; these goals were negatively associated with Incremental beliefs about sport ability and perception of physical education Competence. These results clearly attested to the validity of the trichotomous model in the physical education setting.     

Dispositional and situational goal orientations as discriminators among recreational and competitive league athletes.

The present study examined the relationship between individual goal orientation, motivational team climate, perceived sport competence, and league structure among 216 youth soccer players. It was predicted that competitive league teams would report higher ego-involvement and performance-oriented team climate and lower sport competence than recreational teams. Discriminant analyses indicated that only the mastery-oriented team climate variable differentiated competitive and recreational teams. Athletes who participated in recreational teams reported a greater degree of mastery-oriented climate than competitive league players. The results suggest that athletes' perceptions of situational rather than dispositional aspects of achievement goals are more highly affected by the playing structure present in youth sport teams. The possible psychological benefits derived from the development of a mastery-oriented team climate in sports are discussed.     

The influence of dispositional and situational tendencies on adolescent girls’ sport confidence sources

Objectives: To examine the influence of female athletes’ goal orientations and perceptions of motivational climate on sources of sport confidence. We hypothesized that task orientation and perceptions of mastery climate would be positively associated with adaptive or self-referenced sources of sport confidence. Ego orientation and perceptions of performance climate were expected to be positively associated with maladaptive or normative sources of confidence.Design: A field correlational study design was used to examine the relationships among goal orientations, motivational climate, and sport confidence sources, and to test both mediator and moderator effects of motivational climate on the relationship between goal orientations and sport confidence sources.Method: Participants were 180 competitive female volleyball players aged 12–18 years. Athletes completed three questionnaires assessing goal orientations, perceptions of motivational climate, and sources of sport confidence.Results: Task orientation and perceptions of mastery climate were positively associated with adaptive sources of sport confidence as well as social/environmental sources. Ego orientation was positively associated with maladaptive sources of confidence. Perceptions of mastery climate supported a mediational rather than a moderational role for motivational climate in predicting the social support and coach’s leadership sources of sport confidence.Conclusion: The significant mediating influence of a mastery climate established by the coach provides important implications for coaches who want to build self-confidence in adolescent female athletes.     

An Examination of Goal Orientation Profiles Using Cluster Analysis and Their Relationships With Dispositional Characteristics and Motivational Response Patterns

Goal orientation is a multidimensional construct widely examined by social, organizational, educational, and sports psychology researchers. However, despite theoretical perspectives indicating that individuals can adopt or manifest more than one goal orientation simultaneously, researchers traditionally examine relationships between the goal orientation dimensions and outcome variables of interest independently. In contrast, this study was designed to examine whether individuals can be sorted into meaningful goal orientation profiles based on their scores on measures of learning, performance–approach, and performance–avoidance goal orientation, and the relationships between the resulting profiles and various dispositional and motivational variables. Our results indicated that a 4-profile solution best fit our data and that the 4 profiles differed uniquely across our dependent variables.     

Structural model of employee involvement in skill development activity: The role of individual differences

We extend prior research on involvement in employee development activity by including prominent individual difference constructs that have been previously ignored in this area of research. These include two important personality characteristics (conscientiousness and openness to experience), mental ability and goal orientation constructs. We tested both mediated and direct effects of the variables. The sequence of relationships observed in the model was: general personality traits → development domain individual and situational variables → development domain motivational variables → involvement in development. Personality had indirect (mediated) effects on motivational and involvement constructs while goal orientation, as a development domain individual variable, had direct effects on motivational constructs. Mental ability had no effects. The study also replicated core relationships from prior research, but did so using an Internet sample and response medium. The model presented provides the most complete picture of behavior in this area to date. Important implications for advancement of theory, research and practice in the area of employee development behavior are discussed.     

Autonomous motivation: involvement in physical activity, and perceived sport competence: structural and mediator models

Students in upper secondary school (N = 231, M = 16.6 yr., SD = 1.6) were tested on involvement in physical activity, perceived sport competence, using the Perceived Competence Scale of Harter, and motivational regulation on the Self-regulation Questionnaire of Ryan and Connell. Correlations were positive among involvement in physical activity, autonomous motivation, and perceived sport competence. A hypothetical model indicated that autonomous motivation mediates the relation between perceived sport competence and involvement in physical activity. Although LISREL analysis supported this mediation, the best model fit of the data supported a structural model with involvement in physical activity (R2 = .63) to mediate between autonomous motivation and perceived competence (R2 = .47). Results are interpreted and discussed in terms of self-determination theory.