Föräldra- och tränarbeteende som prediktorer för psykologisk trygghet och psykologiskt välbefinnande hos unga idrottare

The aim of the present study was to test part of Vella et al. (2024) socioecological model examining whether parental and coaching behaviors predict psychological safety and whether psychological safety, in turn, predicts psychological well-being among young athletes aged 16-22 (M=17.96, SD=1.85). A survey was administered to 100 participants from both team and individual sports, and the relationships were analyzed using regression. The results showed that coaching behavior accounted for 34% of the variance in perceived psychological safety, whereas parental behavior explained 19.3%. Furthermore, psychological safety accounted for 26.4% of the variance in the athletes’ psychological well-being. The measurement instruments used in the study have previously demonstrated high reliability and validity: parental behavior was assessed with the Youth Sport Parental Support Questionnaire (YSPS-Q), coaching behavior with the Coaching Behaviour Scale for Sport (CBS-S), psychological safety with the Sport Psychological Safety Inventory (SPSI), and psychological well-being with the Eudaimonic Well-being in Sport Scale (EXBSS). The analysis indicated that bothcoaches’ and parents’ actions play a significant role in athletes’ experience of psychological safety, which is in turn linked to their psychological well-being. Supportive behaviors from both groups were associated with an increased sense of security, with coaching behavior exhibiting a slightly stronger association than parental behavior. However, it is important to note that although these actors contribute substantially to shaping psychological safety, they cannot fully explain the complexity of the phenomenon. Moreover, the study suggests that perceived safety has a moderate link to athletes’ psychological well-being, implying that other factors may also be relevant. These findings are consistent with Vella et al. (2024), who emphasize that psychological safety co-varies with both coaching and parental behaviors, and that these relationships are central to the mental health of young athletes.