title: Enhancement of children's self-esteem through social support training for youth sport coaches.
abstract: The authors examined the impact of coaching behaviors on players' self-enhancement processes. Eight baseball coaches attended a preseason workshop designed to increase their supportiveness and instructional effectiveness. Behavioral guidelines were presented and modeled. A no-treatment control group had 10 coaches. Boys (N = 152) in both groups were interviewed pre- and postseason. Trained coaches differed from controls in player-perceived behaviors in accordance with the guidelines. They were evaluated more positively by their players, their players had more fun, and their teams exhibited a higher level of attraction among players, despite the fact that their teams did not differ from controls in won-lost records. Consistent with a self-esteem enhancement model, findings showed that boys with low self-esteem who played for the trained coaches exhibited significant increases in general self-esteem; low self-esteem youngsters in the control group did not.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle 98195.
authors.forename: F L
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Smoll
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: N P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Barnett
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Everett
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001484:Baseball / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010553:Personality Development; D012649:Self Concept; D012944:Social Support