Sources of Enjoyment for Youth Sport Athletes

TLDR

The positive emotion of enjoyment is a key driver of motivation in youth and elite sport. The article reviews progress in developing and measuring enjoyment and investigates its sources and motivational consequences. The authors conducted a field study of 1,342 diverse youth athletes, using factor analysis and multiple regression to identify categories and predictors of sport enjoyment. Greater effort and mastery, positive team interactions, and coach support were the main sources of enjoyment, explaining 47 % of the variance among these athletes.

Abstract

The positive emotion of enjoyment has been shown to be an important ingredient to motivation in youth and elite sport. This article first summarizes the progress made to date in developing and measuring the enjoyment construct, and in understanding its sources and motivational consequences. Then a field study is presented that focuses on sources of enjoyment in a large youth sample ( N =1,342) that is diverse image, ethnicity, and gender. Factor analytic and multiple regression techniques were used to determine categories and predictors of sport enjoyment. The significant sources of enjoyment for these participants were greater effort and mastery, positive team interactions and support, and positive coach support and satisfaction with the players’ seasonal performance. These findings accounted for 47% of the variance in sport enjoyment and shed light on the predictors of this important affect for a diverse group of athletes.