University of Birmingham
Goal orientation profile differences on perceived
motivational climate, perceived peer relationships,
and motivation-related responses of youth athletes
Smith, Alison; Balaguer, Isabel; Duda, Joan
DOI:
10.1080/02640410500520427
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Citation for published version (Harvard):
Smith, A, Balaguer, I & Duda, J 2006, 'Goal orientation profile differences on perceived motivational climate,
perceived peer relationships, and motivation-related responses of youth athletes', Journal of Sports Sciences,
vol. 24, no. 12, pp. 1315-1327. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640410500520427
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Goal orientation profile differences on perceived motivational climate,
perceived peer relationships, and motivation-related responses of youth
athletes
Alan L. Smith
a
; Isabel Balaguer
b
; Joan L. Duda
c
a
Department of Health and Kinesiology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA
b
Department of
Social Psychology, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
c
School of Sport and Exercise Science, The
University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
To cite this Article Smith, Alan L. , Balaguer, Isabel and Duda, Joan L.(2006) 'Goal orientation profile differences on
perceived motivational climate, perceived peer relationships, and motivation-related responses of youth athletes', Journal
of Sports Sciences, 24: 12, 1315 — 1327
To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/02640410500520427
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Goal orientation profile differences on perceived motivational
climate, perceived peer relationships, and motivation-related
responses of youth athletes
ALAN L. SMITH
1
, ISABEL BALAGUER
2
, & JOAN L. DUDA
3
1
Department of Health and Kinesiology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA,
2
Department of Social Psychology,
University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain and
3
School of Sport and Exercise Science, The University of Birmingham,
Birmingham, UK
(Accepted 7 December 2005)
Abstract
The aims of this study were twofold: (a) to determine if dispositional achievement goal orientation profiles that are reported
in the literature would be observed in a sample of youth athletes, and (b) to examine potential achievement goal orientation
profile differences on perceptions of the motivational climate, perceptions of peer relationships, and motivation-related
responses. Male soccer players (n ¼ 223) aged 9 – 12 years (mean ¼ 10.9, s ¼ 0.6) completed a multi-section questionnaire
containing assessments of dispositional goal (task, ego) orientations, the perceived task- and ego-involving features of the
motivational climate, perceived peer acceptance and friendship quality (positive friendship quality, conflict), perceived
ability, soccer enjoyment, and satisfaction with one’s performance and the team. Four profiles were observed that closely
matched those observed by Hodge and Petlichkoff (2000), though in the present study a lower proportion of participants
exhibited achievement goal profiles consisting of relatively high ego orientation. Achievement goal profile differences were
found for all variables except positive friendship quality, with a general trend for those reporting relatively lower task goal
orientation to exhibit less adaptive responses. Overall, the findings support achievement goal frameworks (e.g. Nicholls,
1989) and suggest that further examination of dispositional achievement goals may afford a deeper understanding of social
relationships and motivational processes in youth sport.
Keywords: achievement motivation, cluster analysis, friendship, peer acceptance
Introduction
Sport is a prominent context in the lives of young
people and therefore has received considerable
attention from sport scientists (see Smoll & Smith,
2002). Understanding what leads young people to
choose, expend effort in and persist with sport
pursuits has been of particular interest to researchers
and practitioners because such insight can be linked
to the provision of developmentally meaningful sport
experiences. Since the late 1980s, one of the most
popular approaches used to frame the study of moti-
vational processes in sport is achievement goal
theory (for recent reviews, see Duda & Hall, 2001;
Roberts, 2001). Achievement goal theory emanates
from work in the educational domain, with theorists
proposing that individuals’ achievement goals are
key determinants of motivation-related cognition,
affect and behaviour (Ames, 1992; Dweck, 1999;
Maehr & Nicholls, 1980; Nicholls, 1984, 1989).
These theorists suggest that: (a) the demonstration of
ability is a key concern, (b) achievement motivation
is multidimensional in nature, and (c) goals are cri-
tical to motivational outcomes because they serve as
a basis for judging competence and defining success
and failure (Weiss & Ferrer-Caja, 2002).
The contributions of Nicholls (1984, 1989) have
strongly impacted achievement motivation research
in sport. His perspective holds that dispositional goal
orientations are central to success and failure
assessment in achievement contexts and therefore
are key motivational constructs. Goal orientations
represent tendencies to employ certain conceptions
of ability in achievement situations (i.e. goal involve-
ment) and take two forms – namely, task and ego
orientation. Task orientation is the propensity to
define success and construe one’s competence in a
manner that is self-focused and targets improvemen t
and mastery. Ego orientation reflects the tendency to
judge one’s ability with respect to the performance of
Correspondence: A. L. Smith, Department of Health and Kinesiology, Purdue University, Lambert Fieldhouse, 800 West Stadium Avenue, West Lafayette,
IN 47907-2046, USA. E-mail: alsmith@cla.purdue.edu
Journal of Sports Sciences, December 2006; 24(12): 1315 – 1327
ISSN 0264-0414 print/ISSN 1466-447X online Ó 2006 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/02640410500520427
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others and to tie subjective success to the demon-
stration of superior ability. When one is predomi-
nantly task oriented, task involvement coupled with
adaptive cognitive, affective and behavioural out-
comes is expected. When one is predominantly ego
oriented, ego involvement is predicted and m ay be
coupled with adaptive or maladaptive psychological
outcomes depending on ability perceptions (Duda,
2001; Nicholls, 1984).
Research in the physical domain has provided
support for these theoretical propositions (see
Biddle, Wang, Kavussanu, & Spray, 2003; Duda,
2001; Duda & Hall, 2001; Roberts, 2001). Correla-
tional findings relative to task orientation consis-
tently match with expectations, whereas findings
relative to ego orientation are less robust, as would
be expected given that predicted outcomes for ego
orientation are dependent upon one’s perceived
ability. Higher task orientation links with strong er
beliefs that effort and cooperation with others lead to
success and that the purpose of sport is to promote a
work ethic and foster cooperation. Furthermore,
higher task orientation has been found to correspond
to greater enjoyment/intrinsic interest and satisfac-
tion, less performance-related anxiety, and greater
commitment to practice, learning and effort. Higher
ego orientation is associated with stronger beliefs that
high ability and deceptive strategie s lead to success
and that the purposes of sport are the enhancement
of self-importance and social status. Also, higher ego
orientation has been associated with greater anxiety
and concern, and less commitment to practice.
Either a negative relationship or no association bet-
ween ego orientation and enjoyment and intrinsic
interest emerges in the sport-related literature (Duda
& Hall, 2001). Overall, achievement goal orienta-
tions have been established as particularly meaningful
motivational constructs in the physical domain.
An important theoretical caveat emphasized by
Nicholls (1984, 1989) that warrants attention in goal
orientation research is the presumption that the two
major goal orientations are orthogonal. This means
that individuals may have equally high, moderate or
low levels of both task orientation and ego orientation
or may have differing levels of the respective ori-
entations. It is not necessarily the case that one orien-
tation is predominant and therefore it is essential
to move beyond the examination of task orientation
and ego orientation in parallel to the consideration
of simultaneous combinations of task orientation and
ego orientation.
Several strategies have been used by sport psychol-
ogists to examine combinations of dispositional task
and ego achievement goal orientations. One strategy
has been to create four groups through a median or
mean split of the task and ego orientation scores
respectively (e.g. Fox, Goudas, Biddle, Duda, &
Armstrong, 1994; Roberts, Treasure, & Kavussanu,
1996; White, 1998). This results in the creation of
high ego/high task, high ego/low task, low ego/high
task and low ego/low task groups. Significant group
differences on a variety of dependent variables (e.g.
beliefs about success, enjoyment) have been observed
and support the validity of this approa ch. Findings
from this literature generally have been consistent
with those of the correlational goal orientation
literature; however, it has also been reported that
higher levels of ego orientation are not maladaptive
when combined with higher levels of task orientation.
A significant shortcoming of the median-/mean-
split strategy is that it potentially masks the releva nce
of moderate goal orientation scores. Some research-
ers have used a cut-off criterion of +0.5 of a standard
deviation from the median or mean to avoid cate-
gorizing moderately scoring participants into groups
representing low or high extremes (e.g. Roberts et al.,
1996). While this addresses potential misclassifica-
tion of participants, it introduces an alternat ive
challenge in that a significant number of particip ants
are removed from the analyses. In either case, the
meaning of moderate scores on goal orientation
measures cannot be ascertain ed and a structure
is imposed on the data that may not reflect natu-
rally occurring goal orientation profiles (Hodge &
Petlichkoff, 2000).
As an alternative, Hodge and Petlichkoff (2000)
advocate using cluster analysis to obtain goal
orientation pr ofiles. Cluster analysis is a data analytic
approach that enables classification of objects into
groups based on selected characteristics of the
objects (Aldenderfer & Blashfield, 1984; Hair,
Anderson, Tatham, & Black, 1998; Kaufman &
Rousseeuw, 1990). With regard to goal orientation
profiling in sport, athletes represent the objects for
classification and their respective task orientation
and ego orientation levels represent the character-
istics of interest. The clustering process entails
producing groups that possess the greatest possible
within-group similarity of objects along with the
greatest pos sible between-group dissimilarity of
objects. Hodge and Petlichkoff (2000) compared
the profiles of male rugby players aged 14 – 39 years
that emerged using cluster analysis with those
produced by a mean-split approach. The cluster
analysis yielded four groups: high ego/low task, low
ego/high task, high ego/moderate task and low ego/
moderate task. Perceived rugby ability/competence
discriminated the high ego/moderate task and low
ego/moderate task groups, with the former reporting
greater perceived ability/competence. Notably, ex-
treme groups dictated by a mean-split procedure (i.e.
high on both orientations, low on both orien tations)
did not emerge in the cluster analysis, suggesting that
the mean-split approach does not capture naturally
1316 A. L. Smith et al.
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occurring goal orientation profiles. However, cluster
analysis will generate groups from data whether or
not bona fide group structures exist, and therefore it
is important to validate the profiles by assessing their
generalizability across samples (Hair et al ., 1998).
Also, and pertinent to the present research, the
sample examined by Hodge and Petlichkoff (2000)
predominantly consisted of young adults. This
precludes generalization of the findings to youth
sport participants. It is therefore important that sport
psychologists examine the naturally occurring goal
orientation profiles of young athletes.
Sport and physical education researchers have
recently used cluster analysis to examine the motiva-
tional salience of goal orientation profiles in youth
(Cumming, Hall, Harwood, & Gammage, 2002;
Harwood, Cumming, & Fletcher, 2004; Harwood,
Cumming, & Hall , 2003; Wang & Biddle, 2001;
Wang, Chatzisarantis, Spray, & Biddle, 2002). For
example, Harwood et al. (2004) examined the link
between goal orientation profiles and the use of psy-
chological skills by elite athletes aged 14 – 20 years.
They observed three naturally occurring profiles: high
task/moderate ego, low task/high ego and moderate
task/low ego. Participants in the high task/moderate
ego profile reported greater use of relaxation, imagery
and self-talk than participants in the other two
clusters. The number of clusters that emerged
matched that of most of the other youth-based
investigations. Although the constitution of clusters
has varied somewhat across these investigations,
clusters comprised of moderate levels of goal
orientation consistently emerge. Also, participants
with high/high and high/moderate goal orientation
combinations consistently have reported more desir-
able respon ses on motivational indices (e.g. greater
imagery use, physical activity, self-determination)
than have participants with other goal orientation
combinations (high task/low ego profiles were not
observed in these studies). The findings of these
investigations show much similarity to Hodge and
Petlichkoff’s (2000) landmark work and support the
validity of using cluster analysis to uncover goal
orientation profiles. However, validation is an on-
going process and the use of cluster analysis to
examine youth goal orientation profiles is a relatively
recent undertaking. More work is needed that
assesses goal profile structures and the extent to
which they are consistent or not with those reported
in the literature. Furthermore , there is a need to
examine whether young athletes who exhibit dis-
similar goal orientation profiles vary in other well-
established motivation-related constructs such as
enjoyment and satisfaction as well as perceptions of
the sport social environment.
Perspectives on achievement or success empha-
sized by the coach and peer interactions comprise
two significant facets of the social environment
operating in youth sport. Therefore, in the present
investigation we focused on youth athletes’ percep-
tions of the motivational climate emphasized by the
coach and perceptions of relationships with team-
mates. Exploring perceptions of the motivational
climate within the goal orientation profiling frame-
work is important because there is still much to be
learned about the connections between dispositional
goal orientations and motivational climates operating
in sport (Robe rts, 2001). Perce ptions of the motiva-
tional climate capture the goal structures evident in a
given achievement setting and constitute an impor-
tant construct within Nicholls’ (1989) and Ames’
(1992) theoretical persp ectives. Based on her work in
the educational domain, Ames (1992; Ames &
Archer, 1988) distinguished achievement contexts
that emphasize and reward self-referenced criteria for
success, learning and effort from those that stress and
reinforce social comparison and evaluation through
promotion of norm-referenced criteria for success.
The former have been referred to as mastery (or task-
involving) climates and are believed to promote task
involvement, whereas the latter have been referred to
as performance (or ego-involving) climates and are
believed to promote ego involvement in achievement
situations. Research in the physical domain suggests
that perceptions of a mastery/task-involving climate
are associated with more adaptive cognitive, affective
and behavioural motivational outcomes, whereas
perceptions of a performance/ego-involving climate
correspond to more negative motivational outcomes
(for reviews, see Biddle, 2001; Ntoumanis & Biddle,
1999; Treasu re, 2001).
Perceptions of the motivational climate are influ-
enced by the nature of relationships with important
social agents in the sport setting. As measured in
the sport setting, perceived motivational climate is
primarily based upon the climate created by the
coach (Newton, Duda, & Yin, 2000; Seifriz, Duda, &
Chi, 1992; Walling, Duda, & Chi, 1993). For
example, nearly half of the items on the Perceived
Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire-2
(Newton et al., 2000) refer specifically to the coach,
and therefore respondents are encouraged to use the
coach as the primary reference point in judging the
motivational climate prevailing on their res pective
teams. Coaches are directly involved in and impact
the sport experience of athletes and therefore are
appropriately targeted in sport motivational climate
research. However, peers are also integral to young
athletes’ experiences in the sport social environment
and warrant consideration.
Peer relationships have received attention recently
in the sport psychology literature, and are typically
examined with reference to acceptance/status with-
in the larger peer group and/or specific friendships
Goal orientation profiles 1317
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