Abstract

Sport drop out represents an important problem that affect thousands of children. Adolescence appears to be a particularly critical stage: It is estimated that 80% of children and adolescents involved in organized sport discontinue involvement between the ages of 12 and 17 years. Although withdrawal from sport roles is characteristic of both males and females during adolescence, evidence suggests that participation in competitive sport by females decreases more dramatically throughout the adolescent years. Particularly, in females handball (France), it is estimated that 40% of females between the ages of 16 and 19 years drop out each year. The purpose of this study was to test the hierarchical model of Vallerand (1997) to explain the phenomenon of withdrawal in female handball. This motivational model states that: 1) the individual's behavior can be intrinsically or extrinsically motivated or demotivated; 2) forms of intrinsic motivation lead to persistence more than forms of extrinsic motivation which induce dropout; 3) social agents (or significant others) may influence individuals according as they support individuals' autonomy or control their behavior; 4) but social agents do not affect individuals' motivation directly, the social agents' effects are mediated by individuals' perceptions of competence, autonomy and relatedness. In this study, drop out was defined as an individual who discontinues handball for voluntary reasons (and not for involuntary reasons like an injury). It was hypothesized that the coach's behavior toward females handball influence their perceptions of competence, relatedness, and autonomy. The more controlling the coach's behavior is, the less positive are female's handball perceptions of competence, relatedness, and autonomy. In turn, the less positive female's handball perceptions are, the lower their levels of self-determined motivation are. Finally, low levels of self-determined motivation are expected to lead female handball players to develop intentions to drop out of handball, which are later acted out. Einleitung (abgeaendert)