Abstract

Drawing from the extant sport and social relationships literatures as well as self-determination theory, the purpose of this study was to examine the association of perceived coach-athlete and peer relationships with self-determined motivation for sport in young athletes. Basketball players (N=211), aged from 12 to 15 years, completed survey measures of social relationships, including perceived quality of both the coach-athlete relationship and a best friendship on the team as well as peer acceptance. Players also completed measures of psychological needs including perceived autonomy, competence, and relatedness, and a measure tapping self-determined motivation. All three psychological needs partially mediated the association of the perceived coach-athlete relationship and self-determined motivation. Competence also partially mediated the association of perceived friendship quality and self-determined motivation. Social relationship constructs did not moderate one another in predicting psychological need perceptions. The results highlight the importance of both coaches and peers to motivation-related outcomes in youth sport and point to valuable future directions for sport-based social relationships research. Verf.-Referat