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Athletic activities are associated with reduced levels of stress and negative mood states among heterosexuals; thus, examining this association among gay/bisexual men is warranted. The current study examined the relationship between sports motivation and mood states, self-esteem, body esteem, life satisfaction, perceptions of masculinity/femininity, and parental encouragement for athletic endeavors among 195 gay/bisexual men. The results were mixed, but suggest that sports participation among gay/bisexual men may relate to a desire to express their masculinity and maintain a positive body image. Gay/ bisexual men may be more likely to participate in sports if they receive positive reinforcement from others. KEYWORDS. Gay, bisexual, men, sports, body image, motivation, masculinity

Feeling of enjoyment plays a critical role in sport participation and adherence. The purposes of this study were to (a) identify specific sources of enjoyment in the context of Korean youth sport and (b) examine the conceptual link between goal orientation and the sources of enjoyment in youth sport. A total of 334 middle school athletes (244 boys, 90 girls; ages 12 to 18 years), representing 17 schools in Seoul, participated. They responded to the Korean version of the Task and Ego Orientation Questionnaire in Sport and an open-ended item designed to identify sources of enjoyment. Content analysis of the responses resulted in nine enjoyment categories, including winning and competition, social recognition and rewards, health and fitness, and perceived competence. Chi squared analyses provided initial evidence for the conceptual link between goal orientation and sources of enjoyment. The athletes scoring high on task orientation more frequently reported self-referenced sources of enjoyment, e.g., health and fitness, psychological benefit, while the athletes high on ego orientation more frequently identified social recognition and rewards as their enjoyment sources. These results were discussed within the frame of goal orientation theory and cross-cultural perspectives.

This study examined the impact of an imagery script intervention on the levels of perceived stress, self-efficacy and climbing performance of volunteer female participants. Novice climbers were randomly assigned to [...]

This study investigates the relationship between goal-orientation profiles and perceptions of physical ability in rugby players. Results indicate that a high ego-orientation, or a strong desire to prove oneself, paired with a poor self-concept of ability results in maladaptive achievement behaviors such choosing simplistic tasks or devaluing difficult tasks.

Research in goal orientation and motivation in athletics has been primarily based on an achievement theories that were developed for educational research. This article demonstrates that John Nicholl's academic achievement-goal theory is not generalizable to sports because scholastic success and physical mastery involve very different conceptions of achievement.

The aim of the present study was to examine preliminarily the validity of a Greek version of the 1995 Sport Motivation Scale of Pelletier, Fortier, Vallerand, Tuson, Briere, and Blais. For 134 athletes the seven subscales had moderate to good internal consistency (Cronbach coefficients (alpha) from .64 to .78). Confirmatory factor analysis with nested factor models supported the structural validity of the inventory. Moreover, correlations of scores on the subscales with a measure of task and ego orientation as well as with athletes' self-reported effort in training were in the expected direction.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between changes in motivational factors and perceptions of control among participants of the Norwegian Olympic Soccer Team for Women, prior to and during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta. The findings show that Task Orientation decreased when competing in the Olympic Games, as did the perception of a Mastery climate, while the perception of a Performance climate increased during the Games. The further findings support the proposed positive relationship between a high Task Orientation and high perceptions of control.

Ellen Skinner's agent-means-ends framework and her competence system model can be used to analyze control-related motivation constructs that sport and exercise psychology has studied. Analysis of attribution has declined in sports psychology research in favor of achievement goal orientation. People's beliefs in their efficacy influence their courses of action, and how much effort they will apply.

This study examined differences in students' motivation in Greek physical education classes depending on age and amount of experience in sport and the extent to which these differences reflected divergent perceptions of competence and classes' motivational climate. 1,393 students responded to questionnaires measuring motivational climate, perceived competence, preference for challenge, interest in the lesson, and perceived importance of the lesson. Students who were not involved in out-of-school sport activities had lower scores on perceived physical competence, perceived learning orientation of the class, preference for challenge, interest in the lesson, and perceived importance of the lesson than students who were involved in organized sport. These differences in students' motivations decreased when scores on perceived learning goals and perceived physical competence were adjusted. Senior high school students (16 yr. old) were much less motivated than junior students (13 yr. old), but these differences were decreased or eliminated when scores on perceived learning orientation were controlled. These results suggest that to increase all students' motivation in physical education, a strong emphasis on personal progress should be adopted.

Individual participation in athletics was examined as a representative achievement-oriented activity in which perceived parental support and pressure influence adolescents' perceptions of themselves and their performance. Adolescent tennis players attending one of the three regional tennis academies indicated their perceptions of the quality of their parents' involvement in their tennis participation, their enjoyment of tennis participation, their self-esteem, and their feelings of burnout associated with tennis participation. Both females and males perceived similar levels of support from their mother and father; however, females perceived greater support from both parents than did males. Males perceived higher levels of pressure from their father than from their mother, whereas females perceived similar levels of pressure from both their father and mother. For both females and males, perceived parental support was positively associated with enjoyment of tennis participation and self-esteem. The findings are discussed as evidence of a general association between adolescents' perceptions of their parents' involvement in their achievement-oriented activities and their enjoyment of such activities and self-perception of abilities associated with those activities.

Activities in a natural environment that involve risk and danger to the participant have become more popular over the last decade. This article describes a study on the motivations for high-altitude mountaineering at Mount McKinley in Denali National Park, Alaska. Using a principal components factor analysis, five factors emerged, accounting for 92% of the explained variance. Overall, scale items such as exhilaration, excitement, and accomplishment appeared as important motivating variables. Risk taking as a motivating variable did not generate a high level of motivational importance. Based on experience levels in mountaineering, a number of differences were observed in the patterns of motivational importance. The findings suggest that participants in risk recreation report different patterns of motivations that are contingent on their levels of experience.

The motivational factors that influence a person's engagement in a sport or fitness activity are discussed. Results show that motivations are influenced by sex of participant and activity type. Specifically, persons engage in sports are driven interest/enjoyment and competence motivation, while persons engage in fitness activity are driven by body-related motivation. Lastly, participation levels are correlated with physical well-being, but not with mental health., Despite its theoretical and applied significance, research on why people participate in sport and exercise (participation motivation) has a relatively brief history (Alderman & Wood, 1976; Sapp & Haubenstricker, 1978; [...]

The positive effects of a teambuilding intervention program were tested by assigning members of a fitness class to either a team-building or a control condition. Instructors in the former group were specially trained for the experiment while the control group instructors were uninformed about the study.Adherence patterns were measured using records of attendance, lateness, early departure and withdrawal. The Group Environment Questionnaire was used to evaluate class cohesiveness. Results indicated stronger adherence of participants and perception of more cohesiveness in the teambuilding program.

Items in the Sport Commitment Model were developed based on literature surveys and ideas from various experts such as research professionals, teachers and young athletes. The model was evaluated using three separate samples of athletes. Statistical analysis of the test results confirmed the reliability of the model across different age, gender and ethnic groups.

The influence of coaching behavior on an athlete's perception of ability and motivation was tested on competitive age-group swimmers using behavioral assessment questionaires. Results supported previous findings that perceived coaching behavior directly affected the swimmers performance, ability and motivation. The enhancing effects of positive behavior by the coach was observed more in males than in females and in older age groups. Future studies should address other factors related to athletic motivation.

The postulation that intrinsic motivation (IM) can be improved by performing difficult goals requiring motor tasks was tested. Fifty-four Australian students were tasked to perform juggling exercises using bean bags. Juggling two bags was classified as easy or simple, while 3 bags juggled was complex. It was concluded that the accomplishment of simple and complex tasks does enhance IM in difficult goal-settings.

A modified version of Kenyon's Attitude Toward Physical Activity Inventory evaluated the sports motivation of 85 college sports participants, 48 men and 37 women, across three levels of participation (varsity, club/intramural, and recreational). A within-subjects analysis of subjects' ratings of the 12 dimensions showed the most important variables to be health and fitness, improvement and achievement. A principal components analysis on the 12 dimensions yielded three factors labeled 'competition,' 'individual goals,' and 'social goals.' A 2 (gender) by 3 (group) analysis of these factors showed that the recreational group's rating of competition was significantly lower than those by the other two groups, and the varsity group's rating of social goals significantly higher than that of the recreational group, with no other significant differences.

We developed and tested a model in which transformational leadership affects sports performance indirectly, through the mediating effects of intrinsic motivation. During the season, 168 university athletes provided data on their perceptions of their coach's transformational leadership and their own intrinsic motivation. At the end of the season, their coaches assessed the performance of the athletes. Using LISREL VIII, three models were estimated following the sequence of mediator tests outlined by Kelloway (1996, 1998). The proposed model received considerable support. The results isolate intrinsic motivation as a mediator of the relationship between transformational leadership and sports performance, suggesting that transformational leadership may enhance intrinsic interest in the task.

The aim of the present study was to examine differences in motivation with respect to physical education of students who participate in after-school sport clubs and students who do not. 247 secondary school students responded to scales assessing intrinsic motivation, outcome expectancies, perceived competence, and perceived usefulness of physical education. Analysis showed that students in after-school sports exhibited a more positive motivational pattern regarding physical education with intrinsic motivation, outcome expectancies, and perceived competence making unique contributions to the overall difference.

The Sport Fan Motivation Scale (SFMS) is an instrument designed to measure eight different motives of sport fans (eustress, self-esteem, escape, entertainment, economic, aesthetic, group affiliation, and family). Warm (1995) presented preliminary evidence that the SFMS is a reliable and valid assessment tool. The current set of three studies was designed to expand on the Wann (1995) research. Study 1 was intended to test the factor structure of the SFMS using a sample that was more heterogeneous than previous samples. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the integrity of the factor structure remained. Study 2 investigated the relationship between preferences for a specific type of sport (i.e., individual versus team and aggressive versus nonaggressive) and scores on the SFMS subscales. As expected, participants with a preference for an individual sport reported higher levels of aesthetic motivation than persons with a preference for a team sport, while persons with a preference for a team sport had higher scores on the eustress and self-esteem subscales. Also consistent with predictions, persons with a preference for a nonaggressive sport reported higher levels of aesthetic motivation than individuals with a preference for an aggressive sport, while those with a preference for an aggressive sport scored higher on the economic subscale. Study 3 tested and supported the hypothesis that individuals with intrinsic athletic motivation tend to be intrinsically motivated as fans, while persons with extrinsic athletic motivation tend to be extrinsically motivated as fans. General discussion centers on gender differences in SFMS scores and the relationship between SFMS scores and the degree that an individual is a sport fan., Throughout the last several decades, theorists have attempted to identify the motivations of sport fans and spectators. An examination of this work reveals that there are eight common motives: eustress, [...]

Reasons for participating in gymnastics were investigated with 280 Australian and 103 Chinese youth. The participants, aged 8 to 15 years, completed modified versions of the Participation Motivation Questionnaire. Treatment of the scores by principal components analysis yielded seven factors. Further analyses showed that the samples differed significantly on six of these factors. Comparisons of individual items indicated that the Australian gymnasts rated having fun and liking the rewards as more important than did the Chinese respondents. Chinese athletes allocated higher ratings to being part of a club, having a good body, liking to win, and wanting to be popular. Both groups assigned high values to reasons associated with improving skills, being fit, and getting exercise. It was suggested that the findings reflected cultural differences between Australian and Chinese societies as well as particular characteristics of the Chinese sample.