Achievement Goals and their Underlying Goal Motivation: Does it Matter Why Sport Participants Pursue their Goals?

Self-based goals, underlying reasons, performance and discrete emotions among parkrunners

Introduction

A temporal sequence of hypothesized relationships was tested between self-based goals and their underlying reasons → stress appraisals → performance and emotions, among UK parkrunners. A conditional process model was also examined to ascertain the potential moderating role of self-determined reasons in explaining the indirect relationship of self-based goals predicting performance and emotions via stress appraisals.

Methods

Utilizing a prospective design, 324 parkrunners (Mage = 45.27; SD = 10.73 years) completed online measures of self-based goals, their underlying reasons at 7 days (T1), and stress appraisals at 24 h (T2), prior to their next UK parkrun. Performance data and discrete emotions (pride and shame) were reported 24 h post-parkrun (T3).

Results

Structural Equation Modeling revealed partial support for the hypothesized model. More specifically, findings suggested that: (1) T1 self-determined reasons underpinning a self-approach goal positively predicted T2 challenge appraisals and T3 pride, (2) T1 self-determined reasons for pursuing a self-avoidance goal corresponded to reduced T3 performance and shame, (3) T2 challenge and threat appraisals were found to positively relate to T3 pride, and (4) the slower parkrunners ran, the more shame they felt post-event. T2 challenge and threat appraisals were found to mediate the relationship between T1 self-determined reasons underlying a self-approach goal and T3 pride. Further analysis failed to support a conditional process model.

Discussion

Our findings suggest the intensity of pursuing a self-based goal does not matter at all, but underlying self-determined reasons are a key driver influencing stress appraisals, performance and subsequent emotions among parkrunners.

TARGETing secondary school students’ motivation towards physical education: The role of student-perceived mastery climate teaching strategies

The aim of the present study was to explore the impact of TARGET-based teaching strategies on students’ motivation in a Dutch secondary school PE context. We examined to what extent mastery climate teaching strategies perceived by students (independently or interactively) explain variability in students’ motivation towards PE. In total 3,150 students (48.2% girls; 51.8% boys) with a mean age of 13.91 years (SD = 1.40) completed the Behavioural Regulations in Physical Education Questionnaire (BRPEQ), measuring students’ autonomous motivation, controlled motivation and amotivation, and the Mastery Teaching Perception Questionnaire (MTP-Q), measuring student-perceived application of mastery TARGET teaching strategies. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that after controlling for gender, age, and educational type, the predictive effects of the perceived mastery climate teaching strategies differed by motivational outcome. Overall, students who reported higher levels of perceived application of mastery TARGET teaching strategies showed more autonomous motivation and less amotivation. Specifically, the teaching strategies within the task structure were the strongest predictors for students’ autonomous motivation and amotivation. No meaningful statistically significant two-way interaction effects between any of the TARGET variables were found, supporting the proposition of an additive relationship between the TARGET teaching strategies.

The Role of Dispositional Orientations and Goal Motives on Athletes' Well- and Ill-Being

Findings in different contexts suggest that task orientation and ego orientation are related to adaptive and maladaptive motivational patterns, respectively. In sport, these personal dispositions could influence other important variables such as the goals that athletes pursue (and why they pursue them) during the season and their well- and ill-being. The main purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between athletes' dispositional goal orientations, their goal motives, and their reported well-being (subjective vitality) and ill-being (physical and emotional exhaustion). The study involved 414 Spanish university athletes (206 female and 208 male) with an age range of 17 to 33 years (M = 20.61; SD = 2.58) that completed a package of questionnaires at the beginning of the season. Results of path analysis revealed that athletes' task orientation was negatively associated to physical and emotional exhaustion indirectly through autonomous and controlled goal motives. In contrast, ego orientation was positively related to physical and emotional exhaustion via its link to controlled goal motives. Athletes' task orientation directly and positively predicted subjective vitality, even though goal motives were not significant mediators. These findings support previous evidence about the protective role of athletes' task orientation, in contrast to ego orientation, confirming its positive relationship with well-being and its negative one with ill-being. Additionally, it extends the knowledge regarding interdependencies between goal orientations and goal motives and how both contribute to athletes' optimal or compromised functioning.

Perceived Coach-Created Motivational Climates as Predictors of Athletes' Goal Reengagement: The Mediational Role of Goal Motives

Athletes have to face several challenges during the sport season, and one of them could involve dealing with unattainable goals. In these situations, being able to reengage in other goals as a form of goal adjustment and in response to contextual demands is adaptive. According to previous literature, some aspects of the athletes' social context, such as coach-created motivational climates, could encourage more adaptive responses in athletes, and so it is possible that these climates would also promote athletes' goal regulation and goal reengagement. The purpose of this study was twofold: to analyze whether athletes' perception of empowering and disempowering climates were related to their goal reengagement through the mediation of goal motives; and to examine the interaction between the two climates when they predict reengagement through athletes' goal motives. Participants were 414 Spanish university athletes (49.5% male, 50.5% female) who belonged to different university teams, with ages ranging from 17 to 33 years old (M = 20.61, SD = 2.58). In the sport facilities, all of them completed questionnaires that evaluated their perception of empowering and disempowering climates, their goal motives, and their goal reengagement. Structural equation modeling (SEM) results showed that perceived empowering climate positively predicted autonomous goal motives, which in turn had a positive relationship with goal reengagement. Conversely, perceived disempowering climate positively predicted controlled goal motives, which were not related to goal reengagement. Thus, we only found support for the indirect relationship between perceived empowering climate and goal reengagement through autonomous goal motives. Moderated mediation analyses revealed that interaction effects between perceived empowering and disempowering climates were not significant in the prediction of goal reengagement through goal motives. Findings revealed that the perception of empowering climates promotes athletes' goal reengagement when goals become unattainable via the increase in their autonomous goal motives. Conversely, when athletes perceive disempowering climates, they have more controlled goal motives, which are not related to goal reengagement. In addition, the study supports the need to educate coaches to create more empowering and less disempowering climates.

Predictive Strength of Contextual and Personal Variables in Soccer Players' Goal Orientations

Psychological variables, such as perceived motivational climate, goal orientation, self-determined motivation, and personality, have an influence on sports success performance. This study aimed to examine the relationships among a set of psychological variables (perceived motivational climate, goal orientation, self-determined motivation, and personality) in male and female footballers. Participants were 167 footballers (106 male, 61 female), aged 12 to 26, competing with clubs in the Spanish Football League. They all took four questionnaires aimed at evaluating motivational climate, goal orientations, self-determined motivation, and personality. The analyses of correlation and regression showed statistically significant relations among the variables. Neuroticism and psychoticism negatively relate to mastery motivational climate, the best predictor of self-determined motivation. It was concluded that contextual variables carry more weight in predicting goal orientations and self-determined motivation among participant footballers.

Association of Cardiorespiratory Fitness with Achievement Motivation in Physical Education in Adolescents

Cardiorespiratory fitness is an important health marker in adolescents. Thus, examining the relation between cardiorespiratory fitness and motivation should be important to increase health-related behaviors. This study aimed to describe adolescents' cardiorespiratory fitness and motivation by gender and to analyze the association between two cardiorespiratory fitness tests (original and with music) and motivation. A total of 341 adolescents (14.2 ± 1.5 years, 52.2% girls) participated in this study. Cardiorespiratory fitness was assessed using the 20 m shuttle run and its adaptation with music. Motivation was assessed though the "Achievement Motivation towards Physical Education" questionnaire. Boys presented with higher cardiorespiratory fitness and motivation (all, p < 0.05). Yet, when classifying fit and unfit groups, a higher percentage of girls were considered fit compared to boys (85.8% vs. 74.5%). A higher level of cardiorespiratory fitness (stages) and VO₂max were associated with a higher level of motivation (self-perceived competence and compared competence) and lower anxiety (all p < 0.05). These associations with motivation were stronger when the music was present in the test. In this sense, including music in activities focused on cardiorespiratory fitness could increase the cardiorespiratory fitness performance and motivation, especially in girls. It should be important to increase adolescents' cardiorespiratory fitness levels in order to increase motivation in physical education lessons and to include more motivational activities in order to achieve higher performance.

The Impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Lockdown on Athletes' Subjective Vitality: The Protective Role of Resilience and Autonomous Goal Motives

The lockdown resulting from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has had a huge impact on peoples' health. In sport specifically, athletes have had to deal with frustration of their objectives and changes in their usual training routines. The challenging and disruptive situation could hold implications for their well-being. This study examined the effect of the COVID-19 lockdown on changes in athletes' reported eudaimonic well-being (subjective vitality) and goal motives (autonomous and controlled) over time (i.e., pre-lockdown and during lockdown). The relationship of resilience to changes in subjective vitality was also determined, and changes in athletes' goal motives were examined as potential mediators. Participants were 127 Spanish university athletes aged between 18 and 34 years (M = 21.14; SD = 2.77). Approximately 4 months before the start of the lockdown in Spain (T1), athletes responded to a questionnaire assessing their resilience, goal motives, and subjective vitality. Around 6 months later into the lockdown period (T2), athletes' goal motives and subjective vitality were assessed again. Growth modeling using hierarchical linear models revealed a significant decrease of autonomous goal motives and subjective vitality during the lockdown, but athletes did not show change over time in controlled goal motives. Path analysis, adjusting T2 measures for their corresponding T1 measures, showed that resilience significantly predicted changes in athletes' autonomous goal motives, which then accounted for changes in subjective vitality. The indirect effect was significant. Resilience did not predict changes in athletes' controlled goal motives. However, changes in controlled goal motives negatively predicted changes in subjective vitality during lockdown. The findings suggest negative impacts of the COVID-19 lockdown on athletes' goal motives and eudaimonic well-being. Results also support the hypothesized mediational role of autonomous goal motives in the relationship between resilience and subjective vitality during the lockdown. As such, findings confirm the relevance of resilience to a key feature of athletes' eudaimonic well-being and the importance of enhancing their autonomous goal striving.

A person-centered approach to achievement goal orientations in competitive tennis players: Associations with motivation and mental toughness

BACKGROUND

Research on achievement goal orientations in sport has typically relied on the use of variable-centered approaches that tend to overlook population heterogeneity. In this study, we used a person-centered approach to identify subgroups of competitive tennis players according to unique combinations of achievement goal orientations and tested for subgroup differences in motivation and mental toughness.

METHODS

A sample of 323 competitive tennis athletes (69.35% male) between 15 and 25 years of age (17.60 ± 2.40 years, mean ± SD) completed the 3 × 2 Achievement Goal Questionnaire for Sport, Sport Motivation Scale II, and Mental Toughness Index. Latent profile analysis was used to identify unique combinations of achievement goal orientations. Comparisons between latent subgroups on autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, and mental toughness were performed using analysis of variance.

RESULTS

Latent profile analysis supported 3 distinct patterns of achievement goal profiles that were primarily distinguishable based on valence of competence (i.e., approach vs. avoidance). Analyses of variance indicated that athletes who were classified into subgroups that endorsed approach types of goals (regardless of the types of avoidance goals they endorsed) reported higher levels of autonomous motivation and mental toughness.

CONCLUSION

Results indicated that athletes tend to pursue a number of achievement goals collectively rather than in isolation. Although approach goals are more commonly linked to adaptive psychological functioning and positive outcomes, avoidance goals may also be associated with desirable psychological characteristics if they are pursued in conjunction with approach types of achievement goals.

Whistleblowing against doping in sport: A cross-national study on the effects of motivation and sportspersonship orientations on whistleblowing intentions

Whistleblowing against anti-doping rule violations and related misconduct has been recognized as an important deterrent of doping behaviour in competitive sport. However, research on whistleblowing against doping is scarce and the available studies have focused on small samples using qualitative and inductive approaches. The present study used quantitative methods to assess, for the first time, the association between self-determined motivation, achievement goals, sportspersonship orientations and intentions to engage in whistleblowing against doping misconduct. A total of 992 competitive athletes from Greece (n = 480) and Russia (n = 512) completed structured measures of self-determination, achievement goals, sportspersonship orientation beliefs, and intentions to report doping misconduct. Latent profile analysis classified athletes into clusters consistent with the theoretical predictions. One-way analyses of variance further showed consistently across countries that autonomous motivated athletes reported higher intentions to whistleblow, and athletes with higher scores in achievement goals and sportspersonship orientations had significantly higher scores in whistleblowing intentions, compared to those with lower scores in these characteristics in both countries. This is the first study to demonstrate the association between motivational regulations, achievement goals, sportspersonship beliefs, and whistleblowing intentions. The theoretical and policy implications of our study are discussed.

Goal Motives and Well-Being in Student-Athletes: A Person-Centered Approach

Using a person-centered approach, the aim of this study was to examine how student-athletes' motives for multiple-goal pursuit relate to indices of well- and ill-being. Student-athletes (N = 362) from British universities identified the most important sporting and academic goals that they were pursuing over the academic year. The participants rated their extrinsic, introjected, identified, and intrinsic goal motives for each goal and completed measures of well- and ill-being. Latent profile analysis revealed six distinct profiles of goal motives, with variations in both the strength of motives and the motivational quality. Follow-up analyses revealed between-profile differences for well- and ill-being; students with more optimal goal motive profiles reported higher and lower well- and ill-being, respectively, than those with less optimal goal motives. To experience well-being benefits when pursuing multiple goals, student-athletes should strive for their academic and sporting goals with high autonomous and low controlled goal motives.

Similar but different: Profiling secondary school students based on their perceived motivational climate and psychological need-based experiences in physical education

The purpose of this study was to provide more insight into how the physical education (PE) context can be better tailored to the diverse motivational demands of secondary school students. Therefore, we examined how different constructs of student motivation in the context of PE combine into distinct motivational profiles, aiming to unveil motivational similarities and differences between students' PE experiences. Participants were 2,562 Dutch secondary school students, aged 12-18, from 24 different schools. Students responded to questionnaires assessing their perception of psychological need satisfaction and frustration, and perceived mastery and performance climate in PE. In order to interpret the emerging profiles additional variables were assessed (i.e. demographic, motivational and PE-related variables). Two-step cluster analysis identified three meaningful profiles labelled as negative perceivers, moderate perceivers and positive perceivers. These three profiles differed significantly with regard to perceived psychological need satisfaction and frustration and their perception of the motivational climate. This study demonstrates that students can be grouped in distinct profiles based on their perceptions of the motivational PE environment. Consequently, the insights obtained could assist PE teachers in designing instructional strategies that target students' differential motivational needs.

Life after breast cancer: moving on, sitting down or standing still? A prospective study of Canadian breast cancer survivors

INTRODUCTION

Breast cancer (BC) is associated with serious physical and psychological health sequelae that affect quality and quantity of life. Physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour can prevent or diminish these sequelae; yet, little is known about how these lifestyle behaviours change after cancer treatment and if these changes affect post-treatment health. The first aim of this study is to describe natural trends in lifestyle behaviours (ie, PA, sedentary behaviour) in women treated for BC. The second aim is to examine the longitudinal associations between lifestyle behaviour changes and (1) physical health (eg, acute symptoms, chronic conditions, body composition, patient-reported fatigue, pain and functioning), (2) psychological health and illness (eg, depression, stress, affect, post-traumatic growth, cancer worry, mood, body image) and (3) biological functioning (eg, cortisol and C-reactive protein). The third aim is to examine modifiable self-regulation (ie, goal adjustment strategies) and motivation constructs (ie, self-determined regulations) that predict trends in lifestyle behaviours.

METHOD AND ANALYSIS

This is a prospective longitudinal study of 201 women treated for BC. Data (eg, surveys, accelerometers, saliva, blood) are collected every 3 months during the first year after women complete systemic treatment for a first diagnosis of BC, and once every year for 4 years thereafter. Data analyses assess trends and changes in PA and sedentary lifestyle behaviours, examine associations between these trends and changes in health outcomes and identify modifiable predictors of PA and sedentary lifestyle behaviours using multilevel modelling.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

Ethical approval was obtained from the University of Toronto (REB# 28180) and has been funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (#186128). Study findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, academic conferences, local community-based presentations such as the Canadian Cancer Society and similar organisations.

Both the "What" and "Why" of Youth Sports Participation Matter; a Conditional Process Analysis

This study builds on previous research combining achievement goal orientation from Achievement Goal Theory and motivational regulation from Self-Determination Theory. The aim was to assess the combination of the "what" and "why" of youth sport activity, and how it relates to the need for competence and self-esteem. Achievement goal orientation, specifically task and ego, was employed to represent the "what", whilst intrinsic and external regulation reflected the "why". Based on a sample of 496 youth sports participants, structural equation modeling with a bootstrapping procedure was used to examine whether the indirect relationship between achievement goal orientation and self-esteem was conditional to motivational regulation. The results show partial support for the conditional process models. Specifically, task orientation was indirectly linked with self-esteem through competence need, and the relationship was stronger with higher levels of intrinsic regulation for sport. Furthermore, ego orientation was negatively associated with self-esteem through a positive relationship with competence frustration. However, this relationship emerged only for those higher in intrinsic regulation. External regulation did not emerge as a moderator, but presented a positive relationship with competence frustration. Findings are discussed in light of both Achievement Goal Theory and Self-Determination Theory, and underline the importance of considering both the "what" and "why" when attempting to understand motivation in youth sport.