title: Personal and contextual determinants of elite young athletes' persistence or dropping out over time.
abstract: Two studies were conducted among elite young judokas to examine (a) whether those who persisted in national training centers (n=52) were different from dropouts (n=52) in their perceptions of coach-, parent-, and peer-induced motivational climates, goal orientations, self-perceptions, perceived competence, and intention of dropping out, and (b) whether these variables varied during the persisting athletes' (n=82) first 2 years in these centers. Compared with persisting athletes, dropouts perceived the roles of coaches, parents, and peers as less task-involving, were less task-oriented, and intended more to drop. The association of peer-, coach-, and parent-induced task-involving climates predicted athletes' persistence. During the 2 years, persisting athletes' perceptions of coach-, parent-, and peer-induced task-involving climates decreased, while perceptions of a coach-induced ego-involving climate and the intention of dropping out increased in spite of more positive self-perceptions. Gender differences favoring males were observed for self-perceptions only. These results stress the importance for all the agents of the athletes' social environment to promote task-involving climates, because such climates appear to be naturally prone to degradation in the context of elite competition. The results also shed light on some high-level athletes' characteristics regarding motivational dispositions and self-concept.
authors.affiliation: Addictive, Performance and Health Behaviors Laboratory, Department of Sport and Physical Education Sciences, University of Montpellier I, Montpellier, France. hlebars@uco.fr
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Le Bars
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gernigon
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ninot
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D016139:Martial Arts; D009042:Motivation; D013177:Sports / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult