Coach Training to Promote Social Development

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The primary objective of this research project is to examine one possible mechanism by which coach behaviors impact the psychosocial development of youth participating in sports. Previous research has established the effectiveness of Coach Effectiveness Training (CET; Smith & Smoll, 1996) for enhancing self-esteem (Smith, Smell, & Curtis, 1979; Smell, Smith, Barnett, & Everett, 1993), decreasing performance anxiety (Smith, Smell, & Barnett, 1995), improving attraction to coaches (Smith et al., 1979), and decreasing rates of attrition from organized sports (Barnett, Smoll, & Smith, 1992). This project is a randomized blind trial of an enhanced-CET intervention. The conceptual model underlying this research proposes that coach training will change observed coach behaviors and youth perceptions of coach behaviors. Youth's internalization of coach behaviors is hypothesized to be manifest in youth achievement goal orientations and self-talk. This internalization process is hypothesized to be the mechanism for the intervention's effects of increasing self-esteem and decreasing fear of failure. Coaches from two community-based sport leagues will be randomly assigned to either an enhanced-CET training session or sport science training session that does not include psychosocial components. After receiving preseason training in these workshops, coaches will self-monitor their behaviors and receive booster telephone calls and mailings on a weekly basis, Youth will complete measures of self-talk, achievement goal orientations, fear of failure, and self-esteem throughout the season. The first aim of the present research is to establish the effects of the intervention on youth psychosocial development. The second aim is to evaluate whether observed coaching behaviors mediate the effects of the intervention on youth development. The third aim of this research is to evaluate whether youth internalization of coaches' behavior mediates the effects of coaching behaviors on their psychosocial development.