A longitudinal examination of coach and peer motivational climates in youth sport: implications for moral attitudes, well-being, and behavioral investment

Embedded in achievement goal theory (Ames, 1992; Meece, Anderman & Anderman, 2006), this study examined how perceptions of coach and peer motivational climate in youth sport predicted moral attitudes, emotional well-being, and indices of behavioral investment in a sample of British adolescents competing in regional leagues. Adopting a longitudinal perspective, measures were taken at the middle and the end of a sport season, as well as at the beginning of the following season. Multilevel modeling analyses showed that perceptions of task-involving peer and coach climates were predictive of more adaptive outcomes compared to perceptions of ego-involving peer and coach climates. Predictive effects differed as a function of time and outcome variable under investigation. The results indicate the importance of considering peer influence in addition to coach influence when examining motivational climate in youth sport.