ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1564391
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Motivational Climate in Sports and Physical EducationView all articles
The motivational climate perceived by young soccer players regarding their coaches, parents, and peers on sport optimal functioning: A cluster analysis
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Malaga, Málaga, Andalusia, Spain
- 2University of Valencia, Valencia, Valencian Community, Spain
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The aim of this study was (a) to describe the perceived motivational climate profiles created by coaches, parents, and peers of young football players, and (b) to analyse the implications of these profiles on goal orientations, motivation, psychological needs, and indicators of well- and ill-being. The participants were 876 football players (M = 13.57; SD = 1.17) who completed a multi-section questionnaire at the beginning of the sports season. Cluster analyses identified four profiles (empowering, disempowering, high mixed, low mixed) based on youth perceptions of empowering and disempowering climates created by coaches, parents, and peers. Multivariate analyses, controlling for gender and age, revealed that those young players categorized in the most adaptive profiles (high empowering climates and low disempowering climates) demonstrated optimal functioning, including task orientation, higher autonomous motivation, need satisfaction, and vitality. Conversely, those in the most maladaptive profile (low empowering climates and high disempowering climates) experienced the worst consequences (high levels of ego orientation, controlled motivation, no motivation, need frustration, physical and emotional exhaustion). Regarding mixed profiles, although the analyses reveal that combining empowering and disempowering behaviours limits the benefits of empowering climates, and low involvement hinders athletes’ development, future explorations are necessary to better interpret these profiles. As a whole, the results highlight the importance of considering the combined roles of coaches, parents, and peers, and suggest that interventions aimed at fostering empowering behaviours and reducing disempowering ones across these social agents may help support youth athletes’ optimal functioning.
Keywords: Self-determination theory1, Achievement Goal Theory2, young athletes3, significant others4, Motivational climate
Received: 21 Jan 2025; Accepted: 07 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Martínez-González, Atienza-González, Gonzalez and Balaguer. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Isabel Balaguer, University of Valencia, Valencia, 46010, Valencian Community, Spain
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