The Relationship between Perceived Parenting Styles and Youth Athletes’ Sporting Achievement in Singapore

The role of parents is key to the success of youth athletes, but not much is known about the influence of parenting styles on sporting achievement in youth athletes. The present study aims to explore whether parents’ perceived parenting style is associated with various areas of sporting achievement. Eighty-three Singaporean student athletes from various local educational institutes and sporting organisations completed an online survey assessing parenting styles (Parental Authority Questionnaire, PAQ) and various levels of sporting achievement (entry to national youth team; medalling at international youth competitions). Cluster analysis was first used to identify the different clusters of youth athletes according to their perceived parenting styles. Subsequent chi-square tests of independence were then conducted to identify whether there was a significant association between the parenting style clusters and different levels of sporting achievement. The results indicated that there were no significant associations between the perceived parenting styles and various areas of sporting achievement in youth athletes. Key takeaways from this study include the need to consider more complex and nuanced parenting style profiles; the cultural differences that youth athletes from Asian contexts might face; and the complexity of sporting achievement, which might not be explained by parenting styles in isolation.