Abstract
A quantitative study of the relationship between demographic factors, team climate, and youth experiences was conducted in urban Detroit. Players from underserved baseball and softball leagues were asked to complete surveys. Participants included 239 youth, ages 10 to 19 (M = 14.5); 64% were boys and 72% identified as 'black.' Dependent measures included positive and negative subscales from the YES-2 (Hansen & Larson, 2005). Predictors included demographics and three survey measures: Caring Climate Scale (Newton et al., 2007); and the Motivational Climate Scale for Youth Sports' (Smith, et al., 2008) Mastery/Ego subscales. Multiple regressions showed that caring climate (?=.251, p < .001), mastery (?=.175, p = .021), and ego (?=.157, p = .007) had positive relationships with positive youth experiences. Ego-climate was associated with negative experience (?=.617, p < .001). Girls described their sport experiences more positively (p = .002). Canonical correlations revealed significant relationships between age, dedication to sport/team, and mastery-orientation, with positive experiences (i.e., networking, personal initiative, and team/social skills). Canonicals for negative experiences reinforced a strong relationship with ego-climates. Positive climate improved positive experiences but not negative ones; negative climate increased negative experience. As such, only perfect climates (high positive and low negative) provide optimal youth sport settings.Acknowledgments: Think Detroit/PAL for their partnership and funding support