Physical fitness, training volume, and self-determined motivation in soldiers during a peacekeeping mission.

PURPOSE: The goal was to register physical training volume and to measure changes in physical fitness in soldiers during a peacekeeping mission. The relationship between these factors and motivation for physical training was also investigated. METHODS: Physical training volume was registered and maximal oxygen uptake, 3-km run time, sit-ups, push-ups, and chin-ups were tested before and after 1 year of service for 71 Norwegian soldiers in the international Kosovo Force. Self-determined motivation was measured at the end of the service. RESULTS: Physical training volume was 117 +/- 77 minutes/week. The average maximal oxygen uptake decreased by 2.5 +/- 0.8% (p < 0.01). Intrinsic motivation positively predicted physical training volume (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: A large variation in training volume was found, and only one-third of the soldiers improved physical fitness and maintained body weight. Fostering intrinsic motivation toward physical training is key to increasing training volume. However, obligatory training could ensure a minimum of physical training among the soldiers who were least motivated for physical training.

Parental and coach support or pressure on psychosocial outcomes of pediatric athletes in soccer.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this article was to examine supportive and/or pressuring influences of parents and coaches on young athletes' maladaptive perfectionist tendencies, relationships to friends, and competency perceptions in soccer. Previous research has revealed that parents and coaches may give rise to both enjoyable and stressful sport experiences for the pediatric athlete and that parents and coaches are thus able to influence whether young people decide to quit sport or continue participating. Less is known about the relation of supportive versus pressuring parental and coach behaviors on the quality of athletes' achievement striving, relationships to friends in sport, and their competence perceptions. Such knowledge may help create a better psychological sport experience for pediatric athletes. DATA SOURCES/SYNTHESIS: A questionnaire-based cross-sectional field study was carried out among 677 young Norwegian soccer players (aged 10 to 14 years; 504 boys, 173 girls; mean age: boys = 11.9 years, SD = 2.9; girls = 11.2 years, SD = 2.1) taking part in the Norway Cup international youth soccer tournament in 2001. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) with follow-up canonical correlation was used to examine multivariate relationships between supportive and pressuring behavior and athletes' psychosocial experiences. RESULTS: Joint pressuring behaviors from parents and coaches related positively to maladaptive achievement striving, as indicated by overconcern for mistakes, doubt about one's soccer actions, and lowered perceptions of soccer competence. Mirroring these findings, predominantly supportive coach-created psychological climates were related to a linear pattern of psychological outcomes comprising high-quality friendships, positive competency perceptions, and the absence of specific worries related to achievement striving. CONCLUSIONS: Supportive, mastery-oriented coach influence seems beneficial for constructive psychosocial outcomes in pediatric athletes, and athletes experiencing a joint social pressure to excel from coaches and parents may benefit less psychosocially through sport.

Peer relationships in adolescent competitive soccer: associations to perceived motivational climate, achievement goals and perfectionism.

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the perceived motivational climate, achievement goals, perfectionism and indices of peer relationships in a sample of young male and female Norwegian soccer players. The sample consisted of 1719 experienced soccer players (1231 males, 488 females) aged 12-19 years (mean = 14.9 years) participating in the Norway Cup international youth soccer competition. The players responded to a questionnaire measuring perceived peer acceptance and quality of friendship in soccer, perceived motivational climate, achievement goals and perfectionism in soccer. Canonical correlation analyses revealed that young female players who perceived the motivational climate as predominantly mastery oriented, and who were moderately task oriented and scored negatively on maladaptive perfectionism, reported better relations with their peers in soccer. Constructive peer relations were evident in that they scored positively on companionship with their best friend in soccer; they perceived this friend as being loyal and allowing of free discussion, and they reported being socially accepted by their peers in soccer. Mirroring these findings, young male players who perceived the motivational climate as predominantly performance oriented, who had a moderately negative score on task orientation but a quite strong positive score on maladaptive perfectionism, reported negative relationships with peers in terms of these aspects. They also reported being in conflict with their best soccer friend. The findings suggest that the qualities of motivation have a systematic relationship with peer acceptance and the quality of friendship in male and female youth soccer.

Effect of motivational climate on sportspersonship among competitive youth male and female football players.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of perceived motivational climate and gender on sportspersonship behavior of competitive youth football players. Participants were 512 boy and 202 girl Norwegian youth football players (12-14 years old) competing in an international football tournament. A 2 x 2 x 2 (gender, mastery climate high and low, performance climate high and low) MANOVA produced no multivariate or interaction effects, but main effects for gender, performance climate, and mastery climate did emerge. Post hoc analyses of the simple main effects found that boys and girls were different in sportspersonship, but only in that boys were more sportspersonlike than girls on one of the four sportspersonship dimensions. Players perceiving a high mastery climate endorsed sportspersonship more than those players perceiving a low mastery climate, and players perceiving a high performance climate were less likely to endorse sportspersonship than players perceiving a low performance climate. Canonical correlation analysis revealed that a strong mastery climate was positively associated with commitment, respect for social conventions, and respect for rules and officials. A strong performance climate was negatively associated with respect and concern for social conventions and respect for rules and officials, while a positive association emerged for respect and concern for the opponent. The results of our study suggest that both boys and girls may well perceive the coach emphasizing similar criteria of success and failure and thereby a similar culture of sportspersonship, while in general a strong mastery climate leads to a higher sportspersonship orientation.