Athletes' perspective on parental involvement, motivation, and performance throughout a football season

Problem Statement: Athletes’ goal orientation is a widely-studied topic in sports because motivation significantly influences sport participation and overall development. According to Achievement Goal Theory (AGT), athletes adopt either a task/mastery orientation – where success is determined by continuous development – or an ego orientation, where success is determined by comparison to others’ performance. These orientations impact athletes’ effort, perseverance and, ultimately, their performance. However, goal orientation is not only intrinsic; it can also be shaped by parental behaviors and involvement in sports. The present study tests the assumption that athletes’ perception of parental involvement affects their goal achievement orientation, which, in turn, predicts their performance. Approach: A total of 153 young athletes competing at elite levels were followed across a football season. At Time 1 (T1), participants completed a questionnaire assessing their parents’ involvement in sport (for both mothers and fathers), their own goal achievement orientation, and their perceived performance. At Time 2 (T2), the final stage of the season, they again completed a measure of perception of performance. Additionally, objective performance data were collected by researchers at both T1 and T2. Results and Conclusions: The results revealed that athletes’ perceptions of ´parental involvement can influence their goal orientations – specifically, the involvement of their fathers, but not mothers. This, in turn, affects their perceptions of performance, though it does not have an impact on actual (objective) performance. In other words, the more athletes perceive their fathers to be involved in their sport, the stronger their mastery orientation, which contributes to a more positive perception of performance at T1 and consequently T2.