European Journal of Sport Science, vol

Adolescents, especially females, have been identified as a group at risk of poor health due to their declining level of physical activity. To prevent sporting attrition, several researchers highlighted the importance of the fit between the motivational context provided by the coach and the socio-emotional needs brought by adolescents. This study concerns the role of the coach’s taskand ego-involving climate on the changes in 3 fundamental perceptions underlined by the self-determination theory (8): perceived competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Contrary to the cross-sectional nature of the former studies, this one used longitudinal survey data from 236 French girl handballers. The 3 perceptions were measured by a questionnaire at the beginning and the end of one season. In the middle of the season, perceptions of coaches’ motivational climate were also evaluated. Results showed that at the end of the season, feelings of competence, autonomy, and relatedness were both positively predicted by a task-involving climate and negatively predicted by an ego-involving climate, even after controlling for the level of each variable at the beginning of the season.