Motivation as a Mediator of the Associations Between the Coach-Athlete Relationship and Athlete’s Life Skills Development

Abstract

This study investigated if motivation (self-determination theory-based) mediated the associations between the coach-athlete relationship/CAR (3C’s model-based) and participant’s life skills development in Brazilian youth sport. 724 Brazilian sports participants (380 boys and 344 girls) aged between 10–18 years (Mage = 14.57, SD = 1.62), completed measures assessing the CAR, autonomous and controlled motivation, and life skills development (teamwork, goal setting, interpersonal communication, problem solving and decision making, time management, emotional skills, leadership, and social skills). Correlational analyses showed that the CAR was positively associated with autonomous motivation and negatively associated with controlled motivation. Participants development of all eight life skills was positively associated with autonomous, controlled motivation, and the CAR. The structural model revealed that associations between the CAR, autonomous and controlled motivation positively predicted the participants’ total life skills development (i.e., all eight life skills combined). Our findings highlight that the 3C’s model (i.e., the quality of the coach-athlete relationship) and self-determination theory (i.e., autonomous, and controlled motivation) can serve as theoretical frameworks for investigating the development of life skills within the Brazilian sporting context.