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The motivational climate (Ames, 1992), as defined by parents' and peers' supportive behaviors is key for understanding children s psychological outcomes and intentions to remain involved in sports. We examined the relationship among parents' and peers' motivational behaviors and 227 girls' (aged 10-14 years) self-esteem, sport competence, enjoyment and their intention to continue sport participation. Structural equation modeling revealed that involved, warm and supportive parents were associated with early adolescent girls having higher levels of sport competence, self-esteem, and enjoyment in regards to playing their best sport. When compared alongside the influences of parents however, peer behaviors that focused on individual improvement, positive support and effort were not associated with these psychological outcomes. In terms of predicting the girls' intention to continuing participating in their best sport over the next 6-12 months, only enjoyment was significant. For these girls, parents were the primary influence in determining their positive psychological experiences in sport. As expected, fun/enjoyment was the key variable with respect to understanding who will remain involved in sport.
Significant figures in children's lives, such as parents, coaches and peers contribute to the creation of the motivational climate, which is defined through these figures' behaviors, values, attitudes and communications and affect how children come to understand and respond to achievement situations. Ames (1992) identified two types of motivational climates: task-involving (i.e., encourages effort and rewards task mastery and individual improvement) and ego-involving (i.e., fosters social comparison and emphasizes normative ability). Of the two, a task-involving climate has been consistently associated with more positive outcomes for children, including greater perceptions of physical competence (Newton & Duda, 1999; Treasure, 1997), happiness (Ntoumanis & Biddle, 1999), higher self-esteem (Slutzky & Simpkins, 2009), and the desire to stay involved in sport (Ullrich-French & Smith, 2009) than has been found for children who participate within ego-involving environments.
Although parents, peers and coaches, collectively, may define the motivational climate (e.g., Darling & Steinberg, 1993; Smith, Smoll, & Cumming, 2007; Vazou, Ntoumanis, & Duda, 2006), most studies in this area have focused on the motivationally salient messages and behaviors communicated by coaches (e.g., Smith, Smoll, & Cumming, 2007). As a result, less is known about the relative influence of parents and peers on children's psychological development within the sport environment. Thus,...