Creating sport environments for youth to thrive: understanding the mechanism to intentions to continue sport and subjective well-being

ABSTRACTThe study investigated how social environmental factors (i.e., supportive behaviors of coaches and parents) are associated with thriving in sport amongst a youth population, influencing important outcomes of sport participation (i.e., intention to continue sport and subjective well-being in sport). Two-wave data was collected within a three-month time span to help determine the relationship of social environmental factors with intention to continue and subjective well-being. One hundred fifty-nine Japanese youth sport participants (Mage = 15.81) completed the questionnaires twice. Autonomy supportiveness of coaches and parents was positively related to thriving three months later. In contrast, only the relationship between autonomy support from coaches and thriving was mediated by the change in basic psychological need satisfaction. Moreover, autonomy support from coaches was related to intention to continue sport and subjective well-being in sport through the changes in basic psychological needs satisfaction and thriving individually and in sequence. The results indicate the importance of both the parent and coach in the role of nurturing the young athletes, while the influence was more robust for coaches. The findings indicate a need for stakeholders to focus on educating and promoting their role in creating supportive environments aimed at increasing retention and well-being.