Intra-team communication and the peer-initiated motivational climate in competitive youth soccer teams

Abstract

Teammate interactions play an important role in the motivational patterns of individual group members (see Vazou et al., 2005). The current study aimed to better understand this link by examining athletes’ perceptions of intra-team communication (Sullivan & Short, 2011) in relation to their assessment of the peer-initiated motivational climate (Ntoumanis & Vazou, 2006). Male and female athletes (N = 149, Mage = 14.51 ± 1.14 years) representing 13 competitive youth soccer teams completed study measures (i.e., PeerMCYSQ, SECTS-2) prior to a weekly practice session. As hypothesized, bivariate correlations indicated positive relationships between (a) acceptance-, distinctiveness-, and positive conflict-related dimensions of intra-team communication and task-related climate, .20 ≤ r ≤ .54, all p < .03, and (b) the negative conflict-related dimension of intra-team communication and ego-related climate, r = .58, p < .001. A negative relationship was also found between acceptance-related communication and ego-related climate, r = -.18, p < .05. Further, two regression analyses were conducted with athletes’ perceptions of the peer-initiated motivational climate as dependent variables (i.e., task- and ego-related climates) and the four dimensions of intra-team communication as independent variables. Results revealed that acceptance communication, β = .40, significantly predicted task-related climate, R2adj = .29, F(4,135) = 15.38, p < .001, while negative conflict communication, β = .59, significantly predicted perceptions of an ego-related climate, R2adj = .35, F(4,135) = 19.78, p < .001. Findings highlight the salience of different forms of intra-team communication in relation to motivational climate assessments, and offer considerations for future research.