SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Motivational Climate in Sports and Physical EducationView all 11 articles
A Systematic Scoping Review of Peer Motivational Climate in Youth Sports and Physical Activity: A Bi-Decennial Update
Provisionally accepted
- 1Michigan State University, East Lansing, United States
- 2University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
- 3University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
- 4Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway
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It has been 20 years since the term "peer motivational climate" was first conceptualized and measured. The purpose of this systematic scoping review was to i) quantify the literature on the study characteristics and methodologies of peer motivational climate research, ii) examine the scope and consistency of associations between peer motivational climate and other psychosocial factors, and iii) explore its interplay with motivational climates created by other social agents. Three databases were searched and all studies published in English were screened for inclusion. Of the 54 studies included, most were cross-sectional (N = 30, 55.55%), and adolescents were the most frequently researched participants (N = 42, 77.77%). Peer motivational climate was explored mainly in competitive sports (N = 27, 50%), followed by non-competitive sports and exercise (N = 21, 38.88%), with only six studies conducted in PE (Physical Education) contexts. Seven research categories and four different interplays among social agents (parents, coaches, teachers, and peers) were identified. Overall, a peer task-involving climate has been more linked to adaptive outcomes while there were also relations between a peer ego-involving climate and maladaptive outcomes (e.g., negative affect and basic psychological need thwarting), but the latter were less consistent. Importantly, the ways peers and adults predicted youth's motivation were distinct. This scoping review can guide not only practitioners into harmonizing different peer motivational climates to optimize youth sports and physical activity experiences but also researchers into future avenues with broader scope and methodologies on peer motivational climate research.
Keywords: Adolescent, Children, Peer influence, psychosocial, social agents, Social Interactions
Received: 26 May 2025; Accepted: 12 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Chung, Cabral, Ntoumanis and Vazou. 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: Spyridoula Vazou
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