Can cohesion predict social acceptance and intention to return in children?

Abstract

The importance of the social environment for child sport enjoyment and commitment is well documented (e.g., Weiss & Smith, 2002). Previous research has shown that greater perceptions of social acceptance can lead to sport continuation (e.g., Ullrich-French & Smith, 2009). A cohesive environment—one that involves a common vision and promotes social interaction—could foster these feelings of acceptance and the desire for continued involvement. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to determine whether cohesion (task and social) could predict social acceptance and intention to return in child sport athletes. A prospective observational design was employed, where 31 teams (N =234 children; Mage = 9.80, SD = 1.20) completed the Child Sport Cohesion Questionnaire (CSCQ; Martin et al., 2012) at time 1 and the social acceptance subscale from the Self Perception Profile for Children (SPPC; Harter, 1985) and a single item assessing intention to return (IR; e.g., Spink, 1995, 1998) at time 2.  Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) results indicated that social cohesion was a significant positive predictor of both social acceptance (SPE = .22, p = .03) and IR (SPE = .23, p = .01), while task cohesion did not significantly predict either social acceptance (SPE = .18, p > .05) or IR (SPE = .11, p > .05).  In addition, results indicated good model fit (CFI = .92, RMSEA = .05, SRMR = .07) and acceptable reliability scores for all subscales (> .70). The implications for the presence of cohesion within this younger population are discussed.

Acknowledgments: The authors would like to acknowledge the University of Lethbridge Research Fund (ULFR) for the funding of this project.