Abstract
Understanding the mechanisms through which self-determined motives are influenced and the consequences associated with the different motive forms is an important social agenda in the context of sport (Horn, 2008). Using the Hierarchical Model of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation (HMIEM; Vallerand, 1997) as a guiding framework, the purpose of the current study was to examine a sequence of motivational processes of interpersonal coaching styles on basic psychological needs, to self-determined motives and the motivational consequence of sport performance. Participants (N = 231) were Canadian Interuniversity Sport female rugby players (Mage = 20.13; SD = 2.26) . Structural equation modeling analysis (with bootstrapping estimates) provided limited support for the proposed model whereby sources of interpersonal support predicted psychological need satisfaction that in turn predicted self-determined motives and perceived performance from rugby players (IFI/CFI = 0.86; RMSEA = 0.08 [0.07 - 0.09]). The final model tested in the SEM analysis accounted for 16 percent of perceived performance in women's rugby, 51 percent of self-determined motives for sport, and between 27 to 56 percent of psychological need satisfaction in sport. Overall, the results of this study provide some evidence that the HMIEM proposed by Vallerand (1997) may be tenable in terms of understanding motivational factors that contribute to performance in women's rugby.Acknowledgments: Research support provided by Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, & Ontario Graduate Scholarship Program.