Parental involvement and athletes' career in youth sport

Objectives: The purpose of this study was (a) to examine the pattern of involvement of parents in youth sport across career phases and career transitions, and (b) to identify this pattern from the perspective of athletes and both of their parents. Methods and design: The parental involvement in sport questionnaire (PISQ, Eur. J. Phys. Educ. 2 (1997) 167), which measures perceptions of Active Involvement (AI), Praise and Understanding (PU), Directive Behaviour (DB), and Pressure (PR), was administered to 193 young athletes, their mothers, and their fathers. In addition, athletes filled in the PISQ twice over a 12-month interval. They were classified into different career phases according to their level of performance and other criteria. Results: Athletes perceive only low levels of pressure, but high levels of praise and understanding. Mothers see themselves primarily as a source of praise and understanding, fathers give a greater amount of directive behaviour than mothers. Pressure is solely correlated with directive behaviour. Athletes with successful career transition during the 12-month period report a higher amount of parental involvement than athletes with no transition. Conclusions: The results add confidence to the cross-cultural validity of the PISQ. They corroborate the assumption that both parents play an important though slightly different role in an athlete's career development. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.