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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1466985
This article is part of the Research Topic Psychological Factors in Physical Education and Sport - Volume V View all 9 articles

Need-Supportive Coaching and Engagement in Chinese High School Football Players: A serial mediation model

Provisionally accepted
Chuantong Jiang Chuantong Jiang 1*Norsilawati Abdul Razak Norsilawati Abdul Razak 2Nelfianty Mohd Rasyid Nelfianty Mohd Rasyid 2
  • 1 Faculty of Physical Education and Health, Zhaoqing University, Zhaoqing, China
  • 2 Faculty of Sports Science and Coaching, Sultan Idris University of Education, Tanjung Malim, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia

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

    This study aimed to investigate the relationship between need-supportive coaching behavior, subjective task value, goal orientation, and engagement among Chinese high school football players and propose four research hypotheses better to understand the determinants and mechanisms of athlete engagement. Participants were 385 Chinese high school football players (228 boys; 157 girls; Mage = 16.07 years; SD = 1.15; range = 14-19 years) on 20 teams from 45 high schools using a proportional stratified random sampling method. Participants filled out previously validated questionnaires, including the Interpersonal Behaviours Questionnaire (IBQ), Subjective Task Value (STV), The Task and Ego Orientations Questionnaire (TEOSQ), and Athlete Engagement Questionnaire (AEQ). To address the hypothesis testing, this study utilized structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze the proposed multiple mediation model. The research results indicated that need-supportive coaching behavior had a significant direct (β = 0.121, Z = 3.667, p < 0.001) and indirect (β = 0.209, Z = 5.500, p < 0.001) effect on athlete engagement. Moreover, need-supportive coaching behavior positively predicted athlete engagement through subjective task value (β = 0.128, Z = 4.000, p < 0.001) and task orientation (β = 0.053, Z = 3.118, p < 0.001). Also, subjective task value and task orientation sequentially mediated the relationship between need-supportive coaching behavior and athlete engagement (β = 0.028, Z = 3.500, p < 0.001). As a conclusion, these findings demonstrate that need-supportive coaching behavior, subjective task value, and task orientation are important factors in promoting athlete engagement. The study implies that encouraging and guiding coaches to adopt a need-supportive coaching style is an effective motivational strategy, which can not only directly predict athlete engagement, but also indirectly influence athlete engagement through subjective task value and task orientation.

    Keywords: need-supportive coaching behavior, Subjective task value, task orientation, engagement, Football players

    Received: 18 Jul 2024; Accepted: 27 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Jiang, Razak and Rasyid. 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: Chuantong Jiang, Faculty of Physical Education and Health, Zhaoqing University, Zhaoqing, 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.