A Structural Model of Goal Orientation in Sports: Personal and Contextual Variables

The following paper first introduces, and then goes on to test a structural model for goal orientation in sports that involves both personal and contextual variables. 511 subjects participated in this study, male and female athletes who play a variety of sports (352 men and 159 women). They ranged in age from 16 to 45-years old and completed the TEOSQ (Balaguer, Tomas & Castillo's version, 1995), the POSQ (Treasure & Roberts, 1994), the PMCSQ-II (Newton & Duda, 1993), the Beliefs about the Causes of Success in Sports Questionnaire, and the Participation Motivation Inventory (Gill, Goss & Huddleston, 1983). The results of this sample show that success attribution and motivational climate are involved in determining goal orientation in sports. However, the model does present certain differences according to the type of sport practiced (individual versus team sport).