the Intrinsic Motivation of First Year College Athletes: Relationships with Coaching Behavior and Scholarship Status

This study examined whether the intrinsic motivation levels of first-year college athletes changed from pre- to post-season as a function of their scholarship status or their perceptions of their coaches ’ behavior. Division I college athletes (N = 72) completed questionnaires assessing their intrinsic motivation at the begin-ning and end of their first year of participation. They also reported their scholar-ship status and their perceptions of their coaches ’ behaviors over the season. Contrary to predictions, results revealed that neither scholarship status nor time affected the athletes ’ level of intrinsic motivation. Strong support for the rela-tionship between athletes ’ perceptions of their coaches ’ behavior and changes in athletes ’ level of intrinsic motivation over the season, however, emerged. In-creases in athletes ’ level of intrinsic motivation were associated with athletes’ perceptions that their coaches exhibited high frequencies of training and instruc-tion behavior, and low frequencies of autocratic behavior and social support. Results are discussed in relation to cognitive evaluation theory and previous re-search on intrinsic motivation