JOURNAL OF SPORTS SCIENCE & MEDICINE

Research article

MOTIVATIONAL CLUSTER PROFILES OF ADOLESCENT ATHLETES: AN EXAMINATION OF DIFFERENCES IN PHYSICAL-SELF PERCEPTION

Emine Çağlar1 and F. Hülya Aşçı2

1Kırıkkale University, School of Physical Education and Sport, Kırıkkale, Turkey, 2Başkent University, Sport Sciences Department, Ankara, Turkey

Received   12 January 2009 Accepted   08 March 2010 Published   01 June 2010

© Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (2010) 9, 231 - 238

ABSTRACT

The primary purpose of the present study was to identify motivational profiles of adolescent athletes using cluster analysis in non-Western culture. A second purpose was to examine relationships between physical self-perception differences of adolescent athletes and motivational profiles. One hundred and thirty six male (Mage = 17.46, SD = 1.25 years) and 80 female adolescent athletes (Mage = 17.61, SD = 1.19 years) from a variety of team sports including basketball, soccer, volleyball, and handball volunteered to participate in this study. The Sport Motivation Scale (SMS) and Physical Self-Perception Profile (PSPP) were administered to all participants. Hierarchical cluster analysis revealed a four-cluster solution for this sample: amotivated, low motivated, moderate motivated, and highly motivated. A 4 x 5 (Cluster x PSPP Subscales) MANOVA revealed no significant main effect of motivational clusters on physical self-perception levels (p > 0.05). As a result, findings of the present study showed that motivational types of the adolescent athletes constituted four different motivational clusters. Highly and moderate motivated athletes consistently scored higher than amotivated athletes on the perceived sport competence, physical condition, and physical self-worth subscales of PSPP. This study identified motivational profiles of competitive youth-sport participants. Key words: Motivational profile, cluster, adolescent athletes, physical self-perception.

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