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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1433171
This article is part of the Research Topic Psychological Factors in Physical Education and Sport - Volume V View all 6 articles

Empowering Young Athletes: The Influence of Autonomy-Supportive Coaching on Resilience, Optimism, and Development

Provisionally accepted
Na Zhang Na Zhang 1Geng Du Geng Du 2Tao Tao Tao Tao 3*
  • 1 Beijing Normal University, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
  • 2 Wuhan Sports University, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China
  • 3 Huzhou University, Huzhou, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The present study investigates how autonomy-supportive coaching style influences youth athlete development through psychological resilience and dispositional optimism. Despite growing interest in factors that contribute to athlete development, gaps remain in understanding how coaching approaches interact with psychological traits to foster youth athletes' growth. This study addresses these gaps by proposing a serial mediation model in which autonomy-supportive coaching indirectly enhances athlete development through resilience and optimism. Data were collected from 325 youth athletes and their coaches across training facilities and schools in China, and analyzed using structural equation modeling in SmartPLS. Results indicate that autonomysupportive coaching style significantly increases psychological resilience, which in turn boosts dispositional optimism, positively impacting athlete development. Both resilience and optimism serially mediate the link between coaching style and athlete growth. These findings emphasize the importance of autonomy-supportive coaching in creating psychologically supportive environments that foster resilience, optimism, and developmental pathways in youth sports.

    Keywords: autonomy-supportive leadership, resilience in sports, youth athlete growth, optimism, developmental pathways in sports

    Received: 15 May 2024; Accepted: 29 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhang, Du and Tao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Tao Tao, Huzhou University, Huzhou, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.