Motivational climate, behaviour regulation and perceived effort in soccer athletes

The purpose of this study was to test the integration of two motivational theoretical models (self-determination theory and the achievement goal theory) to analyze the impact of motivational climate in the regulation of motivation and athletes´ effort perception. Participated in the study 460 athletes (male football players at both regional and national level, on the categories of beginners, youth, juniors and seniors, with 17.42 ± 4.37 years-old). The quality of the structural equation model was examined by the Chi-square value and some complementary model fit indices. The results support the model fit (S-Bχ²= 288.84, df= 147, p< 0.001, S-Bχ²/df= 1.96, SRMR= 0.049, NNFI= 0.912, CFI= 0.924, RMSEA= 0.046, 90%IC RMSEA= 0.038−0.054), suggesting that a motivational task-oriented climate has a significant positive effect on autonomous motivation, which in turn has a significant positive effect on athletes' effort perception. On the other hand, an ego-oriented environment had a positive effect on the controlled motivation, which in turn had a negative effect on athletes' effort perception, although not significant.