Motivational Climate, Satisfaction of Basic Psychological Needs and Fear of Failure in Young Athletes. Differences and Consistencies in Team Sports

Abstract

The aim of the study was to analyze the motivational climate perceived by a group of young athletes and its relationship with adaptive (basic psychological needs) and inhibitory (causes of fear of error) aspects of behavior, also pointing out the differences according to sex and age. The sample consisted of 681 players between 14 and 17 years of age belonging to different Spanish basketball and handball clubs, who responded to standardized tests on their adaptive resources to the perception of the climate constructed by their coaches. The results showed that, as a greater task-involving climate is perceived, the satisfaction of basic psychological needs increases (mainly relatedness), while the aversive causes of fear of failure decrease (mainly the fear of losing the interest of others and the fear of angering significant others). Regarding gender, girls showed statistically significant differences in the levels of task-involving climate and relatedness satisfaction, while boys showed significantly more ego-involving climate, fear of having an uncertain future, fear of losing the interest of others, and fear of angering significant others. With respect to age, differences in task climate were only found in favor of younger athletes (14-15 years). Overall, this study underlines the educational role of the coach in young team sports players. Specifically, the promotion of a task climate favors relatedness and decreases the motives and the occurrence of cognitive-emotional processes of fear of failure in young team sports players.