Empowering young athletes: the influence of autonomy-supportive coaching on resilience, optimism, and development

Introduction The present study investigates how autonomy-supportive coaching style influences youth athlete development through psychological resilience and dispositional optimism. Despite growing interest in factors that contribute to athlete development, gaps remain in understanding how coaching approaches interact with psychological traits to foster youth athletes' growth. This study addresses these gaps by proposing a serial mediation model in which autonomy-supportive coaching indirectly enhances athlete development through resilience and optimism.Methods Data were collected from 325 youth athletes and their coaches across training facilities and schools in China, and analyzed using structural equation modeling in SmartPLS.Results Results indicate that autonomy-supportive coaching style significantly increases psychological resilience, which in turn boosts dispositional optimism, positively impacting athlete development. Both resilience and optimism serially mediate the link between coaching style and athlete growth.Discussion These findings emphasize the importance of autonomy-supportive coaching in creating psychologically supportive environments that foster resilience, optimism, and developmental pathways in youth sports.