The dynamics of self-determined motivation, passion, and athlete satisfaction over one competitive season in intercollegiate athletes.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the patterns of relationships among motivation, passion, and satisfaction over one competitive season in Division I athletes. Self-determination theory was the theoretical framework for this study. A mixed-methods approach was used to capture the athletes' sport experience. A questionnaire was completed by athletes from a Division I women's soccer team (31 females) and men's football team (87 males) three times over the course of their competitive seasons. Two athletes from each team were selected for follow-up interviews based on their responses to gather additional information not obtained from the questionnaire data. A RM ANOVA was used to assess change over time in the motivation variables. Amotivation was found to increase over time for the women's soccer team, F (2, 20) = 4.09, p = .03, partial eta squared = .29, and extrinsic motivation was also found to increase for the men's football team, F (2, 63) = 8.93, p < .0001, partial eta squared = .22. Correlational analyses were used to investigate the relationships among the variables of interest. For both samples, higher levels of satisfaction were present when higher levels of harmonious passion (HP) and intrinsic motivation were present coupled with lower levels of amotivation. Hierarchical cluster analysis was employed to identify motivational profiles that emerged. Four distinct profiles emerged with the women's soccer team: A Highly Motivated cluster characterized by high levels of intrinsic motivation and low levels of amotivation; a Low Motivation cluster characterized with low levels of extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation; an Unmotivated cluster characterized by high levels of amotivation; and an Extrinsically Motivated/Obsessive cluster characterized by high levels of extrinsic motivation and obsessive passion (OP). The football sample was classified into three different profiles (top quartile, middle two quartiles, bottom quartile) based solely on their satisfaction levels. The top quartile group was characterized by high harmonious passion and intrinsic motivation and low amotivation. The middle quartiles group was characterized by close to the mean values for all variables. The bottom quartile had the lowest values for harmonious passion and intrinsic motivation and the highest amotivation.