From tough love to loving tough : an interpersonal circumplex analysis of coaches’ interpersonal styles, problems, and athletes’ outcomes

Desired athlete outcomes have been associated with coaches who combine control and affiliation. However, which combinations of these interpersonal dimensions, and maladaptive expressions of them, relate to specific athlete outcomes remain unclear. Our aim was to map athlete performance satisfaction, coach–athlete relationship quality, and athlete burnout onto the interpersonal circumplex to examine their associations with coaches’ interpersonal styles and interpersonal problems. We surveyed 233 Canadian and U.S. student-athletes (M = 21.49, SD = 2.06 years) and mapped athlete outcomes onto the control and affiliation dimensions of the interpersonal circumplexes. All desired outcomes were associated with interpersonal styles characterized by elevated warmth and dominance. Undesired outcomes were associated with more differentiated interpersonal patterns, with elevations in domineering and remote interpersonal problems as common features. Athletes may benefit from “loving tough” styles that combine warmth and dominance, with coach affiliation shaping whether control is experienced as functional authority or dysfunctional dominance.