Examination of the Independent and Interactive Effects of Coach and Peer Influence Toward Need Satisfaction of High School Athletes in Urban Communities

Individuals in the United States face a variety of physical, social, emotional, and cognitive changes as they transition into adolescence (Kim, Oesterle, Catalano, & Hawkins, 2015). The period of adolescence has been corresponded with negative outcomes, including physical inactivity, obesity, and psychological disorders (Troiano et al., 2008). Adolescents from urban communities are often exposed to enhanced challenges, faced with discrimination and racism (Byrd & Carter Andrews, 2006). Sport programs are one of many extracurricular activities designed to promote adolescent development. Emotional, intellectual, physical, psychological, and social benefits have been attributed to adolescent sport participation (Anderson-Butcher et al., 2016). However, rates of sport participation and physical activity among adolescents have continued to decline precipitously (Brownson, Boehmer, & Luke, 2005; Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, 2012). Time constraints, limited resources, and insufficient social support have presented as barriers toward adolescent sport participation (Casey, Eime, Payne, & Harvey, 2009). Ultimately, motivation has been observed to strongly relate to adolescents’ intentions to commit to sport programs (e.g., Amorose, Anderson-Butcher, & Cooper, 2009; Tsorbatzoudis, Alexandris, Zahariadis, & Grouios, 2006). Therefore, the current study was conducted to explore the influence of social agents toward high school athletes’ perceptions of motivation.Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000) was utilized as the theoretical framework for the current study. This theory promotes that motivation is dependent upon satisfaction of the basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Previous studies (e.g., Mack et al., 2011; Ntoumanis & Standage, 2009) have reported that need satisfaction is corresponded with well-being. Furthermore, need satisfaction has been noted to correspond with levels of need support from coaches and peers (e.g., Amorose & Anderson-Butcher, 2007; Conroy & Coatsworth, 2007). The current study expanded on these results by measuring the independent and interactive effects of coach and peer support toward athletes’ perceptions of need satisfaction.In order to explore these relationships, three separate hierarchical regression analyses were conducted. In study # 1, perceived autonomy was strongly influenced by coach-autonomy support and minimally related to peer-autonomy support. The interaction term of coach x peer autonomy support was not statistically significant. Study # 2 measured the influence of coach-competence support, peer-competence support, and coach x peer competence support. Peer-competence support was influential toward athletes’ competence levels, while coach-competence support was not a significant predictor. Coach x peer competence support was not a statistically significant interaction term. Lastly, perceived relatedness was explored as an outcome of coach-relatedness support, peer-relatedness support, and coach x peer relatedness support. Coach-relatedness support and peer-relatedness support were both substantially influential toward athletes’ perceptions of relatedness. The interaction of coach x peer relatedness support was the only significant term. The regression plot revealed that as the amount of peer-relatedness support rose, the effect of coach-autonomy support decreased. These results highlight the importance of need satisfaction within high school sport programs.