Exploring relationships between youth athlete’s emotions, perceptions of coaching climates, and social-emotional development

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between youth athletes’ emotions, perceptions of their coaches, motivational/emotional climates (emotional relationships and environment within a specific context), and their personal/social growth (development of emotional intelligence and psychological resilience). This mixed methods study explored four youth soccer teams (United States). Participants included youth athletes (N = 60; Mage = 14.68; 60% boys, 40% girls) who completed a survey and focus group interview. The survey of validated instruments focused on perceptions of their sporting climate, emotional experiences, and their perceived personal/social growth. Specifically, this study explored four emotions enjoyment, anger, anxiety, and shame. Results showed that the male youth athlete participants tended to report high perceptions of ego climate and burnout, whereas female athletes reported higher perceived mastery climates, enjoyment, and personal/social development. Also, middle school athletes reported generally less ego climates than high school athletes with an interaction showing high school females reporting this less than male counterparts. Qualitative results showed that teams reported team/coach relationships influenced their connection and fulfillment, positive and negative emotions (enjoyment, anxiety, anger, shame) were an essential component to the youth sporting experience, and individual and team growth development is a priority for youth athletes (although depicted differently in male and females). This research suggests that sporting experiences can have tremendous impact on students social, emotional and psychological growth, thus, more humanistic approaches to coaching may be intentional in influencing non-sport related youth outcomes.