Exploring the relationship between coach-initiated motivational climate and athlete well-being, resilience, and psychological safety in competitive sport teams

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate coach-initiated motivational climate and its relationship with athlete well-being, resilience, and psychological safety in competitive sport. In addition to independent relationships between task- and ego-related climates and the study outcomes, this research also explored the potential additive effects of task and ego climate together to understand if a task climate can buffer against the negative impacts of an ego climate. Self-report survey data were collected from competitive soccer players across Ontario, Canada ( N = 298; Mage = 20.38; 58.72% male). Using multiple linear regression, a perceived task-related climate was a significant positive predictor of well-being ( ß = .33), resilience ( ß = .31), and psychological safety ( ß = .54, all ps < .001). A higher perceived ego-related climate was a significant negative predictor of psychological safety ( ß = −.23, p < .001), and not significantly related to well-being and resilience. Partial support for the additive effect of task- and ego-related climate together was found for psychological safety, but not well-being or resilience. Specifically, athletes in the latent profile characterized by average task and higher ego scored higher on psychological safety compared with lower task and higher ego climate perceptions. The increase in psychological safety between these two profiles was observed despite both having higher ego-related climates. Although future research is required, the findings offer meaningful contributions to theory and practice in the context of competitive soccer teams.