Abstract
The reason for young children's participation in a specific sport has been identified as multifold (e.g., meeting friends, improving skills, etc.). However, the initial decision to participate in a sport is often not made by the child but by the parents. In this context it appears that organized sport programs are not focused on satisfying the motivations of the children but on the parents. The potential discrepancy between the motivation of the child and his/her parents might impact continued sport participation. This study examines the motivation of the parents and how these influence the motivation of the children to participate in organized ice hockey. Three hundred and thirty ice hockey players (female n = 32) between the age of 9 and 10 and both parents filled out the Participation Motivation Questionnaire. The dimensions achievement, team, fitness, and excitement showed acceptable reliability (a> .70) for the data of the players, fathers, and mothers. The data for each family were matched. Multiple regressions were used to examine the predictability of the child's motivation from the parents' motivation on each of the four dimensions. All multiple regressions were significant (p < .01) however, the R2 value was relatively low for each analysis (.11 - .05). In conclusion, child's motivation for participation in hockey is only slightly influenced by the motivation of the parents. Implications and future research directions are discussed.
