High school athletes' self-determined motivation: The independent and interactive effects of coach, father, and mother autonomy support

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to examine the independent and interactive influences of athletes' perceptions of autonomy support from their coaches, fathers, and mothers on the athletes' self determined motivation. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Method: High school athletes (N = 335; M age =15.75 years; 62.4% female; 84.2% Caucasian) completed surveys assessing the constructs of interest near the end of their season. Results: Hierarchical regression analysis results showed that autonomy support from all three social agents significantly and positively predicted self-determined motivation (R-2 = 0.32), and the two- and three-way interactions significantly added to the prediction (total R-2 = 0.35). Results showed that a relatively high level of self-determined motivation was associated with the perception that at least two of the three social agents provided high levels of autonomy support. Conclusions: The provision of autonomy support from coaches, mothers, and fathers relate to athletes' self-determined motivation both independently and interactively. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.