Positive Sporting Experience and Life Purpose: Is the Association Explained by Motivation?

This cross-sectional study examined motivation’s mediating role in the association between positive Sporting experience and life purpose. The sample comprised 473 Brazilian young athletes who participated in the Youth School Games. Data were collected using the Purpose in Life Test, Youth Experience Survey for Sport, and Sports Motivation Scale. Structural Equation Modeling indicated adequate data fit for the final model (χ2/df = 2.96; CFI = 0.95; RMSEA = 0.06; SRMR = 0.05) and explained 27% of the variance in existential realization and 15% of the variance in existential emptiness. Intrinsic motivation was positively associated with existential realization and negatively associated with existential emptiness. The findings indicate that intrinsic motivation mediates the association between positive sporting experience and life purpose among young Brazilian athletes and is related to stronger feelings of existential realization. Because of the cross-sectional design, these findings should be interpreted as associations rather than causal effects. In practice, the results suggest that coaches and parents should promote environments that foster positive sporting experience and support self-determined motivation for practice.