Peer Relationships, Social Identity, And Motivational Experiences in Youth Sport

Organized sport is a setting in which youth can make friends and explore their identity. Teammate relationships may make important contributions to athletes’ social identity (i.e., their psychological connection to their sport team) and their motivation for sport. This idea was tested across three studies. A review of literature was conducted in study one to identify factors that may contribute to athlete social identity. Seven categories were identified across 60 studies including leadership factors, environmental factors, personal factors, team factors, interventions, moral factors, and interpersonal factors. Less than a third of these studies were conducted with youth athletes and interpersonal factors were one of the least represented categories. To increase knowledge in this area, study two was conducted to examine if positive peer relationships tied with athletes’ psychological connection to their team and, in turn, high quality sport motivation. Results showed that those with a quality best friendship and those feeling accepted by teammates felt more connected to their team and had more adaptive motivation, such as stronger enjoyment of their sport. Study three was conducted to examine if negative peer relationships associated with less psychological connection to their team for athletes and lower quality sport motivation. Results showed that feeling rejected by teammates was associated with feeling less connected to the team and more maladaptive motivation, such as stronger burnout perceptions. Enhancing the quality of athletes’ teammate relationships appears to be an important way to promote positive sport and developmental experiences.