Coaching for the development of athlete self-esteem: The relationship between the self-perceptions of junior cricketers and their perceptions of coaching behaviour

Gordon D. Paterson

The Waikato Polytechnic, New Zealand

The need to identify self-esteem development as an explicit objective in youth sport has received some attention during the past decades. This study explored the relationship between the self-perceptions of cricketers aged 13-15 years (N=222) and their perceptions of their coaches' application of 10 instructional strategies. Data collection included: (a) pre- and post-season (10 weeks) measures of players' self-esteem using Harter's (1985) Self-Perception Profile for Children; (b) pre- and post-season measures of players' cricket self-perceptions, affective outcomes derived from cricket participation, and cricket motivation orientation using a cricket-specific adaptation of Klint's (1988) affect inventory; and (c) players' post-season perceptions of their coaches' application of 10 coaching strategies using an inventory designed by the author. Pearson product moment correlations (r) were used to measure the strength and direction of the relationships between the variables (Vincent, 1995). Results revealed: (a) significant correlations between dimensions of self-esteem, cricket self-perceptions and the affective outcomes of pride, excitement and happiness, and (b) significant correlations between the cricketers' perceptions of their coaches application of the instructional strategies and dimensions of their post-season self-esteem, cricket self-perceptions, affective outcomes and intrinsic motivation orientation. These findings provide further insights for coaches seeking to develop athlete self-esteem on the sports field.

Findings reveal consistently that children with high-self-esteem are characterised by positive achievement behaviours and sustained motivation. Children with low-self-esteem, on the other hand, are characterised by dysfunctional patterns of achievement behaviour, suggesting that self-esteem is a powerful variable that impacts on children's motivation in sport (Weiss, 1993). There would seem to be good argument for coaches to coach for the explicit outcome of maintained or developed self-esteem if youth sport is to contribute to the young participant's education for life. During the past two decades, there has been an ongoing attempt to identify the sporting environment within which the development of participant self-esteem can be facilitated. A benchmark study was conducted by Smith, Smoll and Curtis (1979) who trained 18 coaches to focus specifically on improving positive interactions between the coach and athlete and between the athletes themselves. Athletes who played for trained coaches revealed significant increases in self-esteem. Those found to be low in self- esteem proved to be the most vulnerable to variations in coaching behaviour.

The importance of the coach's role in the development and maintenance of the athlete's self-esteem becomes apparent in the consensus among theorists that the development of self-esteem is social in origin (Weiss, 1987). This paper focuses on the relationship between the self-perceptions of junior cricketers and their perceptions of four coaching strategies that have been identified as contributors to the development of self-esteem. The importance of social interactions within the youth sport environment was emphasised by Brustad (1992), who contended that there was a need for greater attention to be given to the social context within which youth participate. Barnett, Smoll, and Smith (1992) reported a favourable impact of coaching behaviour on the self-esteem of children whose self-esteem was low.

The first strategy contended that coaches could achieve the status of significant other and therefore, should be aware of the responsibility of achieving this social status. Attention was paid specifically to the cricketers' perceptions of the coach as an "important person" in their lives. The second strategy focused on the need for a democratic, athlete-centred leadership style which would seem to be conducive to the development of self-esteem (Weiss, 1987). Particular focus was centred on the athlete's perceptions of opportunities for self-discipline and contributions to decision making. The third strategy encouraged coaching aimed at facilitating the cricketers' sense of internal control over their progress. In developing competence motivation theory, Harter (1981) contended that socialising agents could impact upon an individual's sense of both competence and control, with self-esteem being positively influenced by internal, controllable factors. This link between self-esteem and causal attributions has been confirmed (Weiss, Ebbeck, McAuley, & Wiese, 1990), suggesting that coaches should attempt to coach for the outcome of such attributions. The fourth strategy centred on coaches coaching directly for athlete enjoyment. Affect has been described by Weiss (1993) as a determinant and consequence of self- esteem development, and was assigned by Harter (1981) as a central construct in the examination of motivated behaviour. Support for the relationship between coach behaviour and the affective outcomes derived from the participation of junior athletes was found by Scanlan, Carpenter, Lobel, and Simons (1993), who found "positive coach support" to be a significant predictor of enjoyment. The study conducted by Ommundsen and Vaglum (1991) further illustrates the relationship between affect and self-esteem.

This study responds to Weiss' (1993) call for further intervention studies needed to determine the instructional strategies that enhance self-esteem in the youth sport setting. Perceived competence, as an indicator of self-esteem, was developed within Harter's (1978) extension of White's theory of effectance motivation. It was within Harter's (1981) theoretical framework of competence motivation that this study was conducted. Self-esteem was measured using Harter's (1985) Self-perception profile for children, a measure that comprises six dimensions of self-esteem. This inventory includes one sub-scale (global selfworth) which is a measure of the individual's general like or dislike for him/herself, three sub-scales which measure self- perceptions of competency (athletic competence, scholastic competence and peer acceptance), and two sub-scales which measures self-adequacy (behavioural conduct and physical appearance).

This paper has been drawn from a more expansive investigation that attempted to validate a model of instruction to promote self-esteem through participation in sport. This paper is confined to the hypothesis which contends that:

There will be significant positive correlation's between players' perceptions of their coaches' use of 10 self-esteem enhancing instructional strategies and the following variables:

Post-season self-esteem

Post-season cricket self-perceptions

Post-season reports of affective outcomes derived from cricket participation

Post-season cricket motivation orientation.

This paper addresses the cricketers' perceptions of the application of the four strategies discussed and their relationship with the following variables:

The self-esteem dimensions of global selfworth, athletic competence, physical appearance, peer acceptance, and behavioural conduct;

the cricket-specific self- perceptions of cricket competence and cricket success;

and the motivation orientation of persistence in playing cricket.

Subjects

The subjects comprised 222 male cricketers aged 13 to 15 years drawn from four large boys' schools in the greater Cape Town city boundary. The voluntary participants were divided into two age groups according to school cricket leagues (under 15 and under 14). This implied that those boys who turned 14 on or after the 1 January of the year during which the study was completed played cricket in the under 14 age group, with the same principle being applied to those boys turning 15 during the year of the study. The two age groups were further subdivided into two groups defined by level of skill. A and B team players were grouped into "high skilled" groups while C team members and lower formed groups of "less skilled" cricketers. This division was considered important in view of the different cricket context for each group. The four groups comprised, therefore, the under 15 high skilled group (n=56); the under 15 less skilled group (n=37); the under 14 high skilled group (n=60); and the under 14 less skilled group (n=69).

Pre- and post-season self-esteem was measured using Harter's (1985) Self- Perception Profile for Children. Pre- and post-season measurement of cricket- specific self-perceptions was conducted using an acceptably adapted version of Klint's (1988) inventory designed for gymnasts. Post-season perceptions of the coaches' application of 10 strategies designed to promote the development of self-esteem were measured by an inventory designed by the researcher.

All under 14 and under 15 cricketers in the four schools were informed of the approved research project and afforded the opportunity to participate, resulting in 222 participants. Pre-season testing was conducted during the first term of the school year that was also immediately prior to the first matches of the season. The researcher who administered the tests at each of the four schools conducted all testing. The season lasted for ten weeks after which testing was again conducted following the same procedure. The post-test included the third inventory which measured the cricketers' perceptions of the coaches application of the 10 self-esteem enhancing strategies.

Use was made of the SAS package in the analyses of the data. Pearson product moment correlation coefficients (r) were computed to examine the anticipated relationships between the cricketers' perceptions of their coaches' application of the 10 instructional strategies identified to promote self-esteem through sport participation, and the cricketers' self-perceptions.

Mean post-season scores and standard deviations for the four cricket groups are found in Table 1. Of interest is the consistent difference in mean scores between the different ability groups within the two age groups. Additionally, the heterogeneous nature of the under 14 less skilled group is evident in the larger standard deviations recorded for this group.

Mean Post-Season Scores and Standard Deviations for Dimensions of Self-Esteem,
Cricket-Specific Self-Perceptions, and Cricket Persistence

	Under 15 HS n=56	Under 15 LS n=37	Under 14 HS n=60	Under 14 LS n=69
	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD
Global selfw'th	18.82	2.46	17.73	2.93	18.42	3.19	18.06	4.83
Athletic comp.	18.82	2.65	16.08	2.95	18.76	2.40	15.97	4.67
Physical appear.	17.14	3.34	15.86	3.59	17.64	4.05	16.49	4.99
Peer accept.	17.96	3.03	16.32	3.36	18.93	3.26	16.78	4.72
Behavioral cond.	18.00	3.04	17.24	3.30	16.52	3.33	16.13	4.22
Cricket compet.	14.36	2.17	12.32	2.68	14.37	2.14	12.18	3.26
Cricket success	3.77	0.66	3.08	0.83	3.95	0.34	3.24	0.68
Cricket persist.	8.02	1.38	7.46	1.99	8.35	1.30	7.63	1.99

Significant positive correlations were found between the Under 15 less skilled group's perceptions of their coach as a significant other (see Table 2) and two dimensions of these cricketers' self-esteem, namely, athletic competence and physical appearance. Does this mean that a specific relationship exists between these relatively settled cricketers competing in a sporting environment unimpeded by the extrinsic motivational pressures present at an elite level? The absence of correlations for the Under 14 cricketers might have related to the relative instability of team selections during the first ten weeks at high school. This inconsistency would have had a negative influence on the ability of coaches to achieve the position of significant other through associating with the same cricketers over time.

The significant relationships found for both Under 15 groups between their perceptions of this coaching strategy and their cricket self-perceptions (see Table 2) suggest that those who perceived their coach to be more important also had more favourable perceptions of both their cricket competence and their cricket success.

The focus in this paper was on the motivation orientation of persistence with the sport next season. This was measured by summing responses to two statements which referred to "looking forward to coming back" to cricket and "rather doing something else". The significant correlations found for three of the sample groups (see Table 2) were supportive of competence motivation theory which contends that significant others can have a positive social influence (Harter, 1981) and in the form of a coach, contribute to perceptions of competence which inspires continued participation.

Pearson Product Moment Correlations Between the Cricketers' Self-Perceptions and Their Perceptions of the Coach as a Significant Other, and of his Application of an Indirect Coaching Style.

	Coach as significant other	Use of indirect coaching
	15 HS	15 LS	14 HS	14 LS	15 HS	15 LS	14 HS	14 LS
Global selfworth	.15	.25	.03	- .14	.26*	.38*	.25*	.03
Athletic competence	.22	.42**	- .09	-.20	.08	.52***	.06	-.07
Physical appearance	.19	.40**	- .04	-.13	.15	.38*	.38**	.04
Peer acceptance	.10	.14	.03	-.14	- .11	.18	.22	.05
Behavioral conduct	.20	.29	- .01	-.15	.14	.16	.33**	-.07
Cricket competence	.38**	.42**	- .07	.04	.22	.46**	.17	-.06
Cricket success	.50***	.40**	.18	.12	.43***	.43**	.00	-.08
Cricket persistence	.47***	.41**	.39***	.21	.33**	.43**	.41**	.18

Note. *p< .05, **p< .01, ***p< .001 HS = high skilled, LS = less skilled

The second strategy recommends the use of indirect coaching styles. The perceptions assessed included the coach's encouragement of self-discipline amongst cricketers and his inclusion of cricketers in the decision-making process. Although moderate to weak in strength, three of the four sample groups' perceptions of this coaching behaviour correlated significantly with their global selfworth sub-scale (see Table 2). The relationship suggests that the more the cricketers were involved in the process of making decisions and disciplining themselves, the better they liked themselves as people.

Positive, significant relationships were found for both of the Under 15 groups' perceptions of their cricket success and their perceptions of a more indirect style of coaching (see Table 2). While this relationship proved to be true for the less skilled group's cricket competence sub-scores, the absence of significant correlations for both under 14 groups remained apparent.

As for the previous strategy, significant correlations were found for three of the sample groups' perceptions of this coaching behaviour and their likely persistence with the sport next season. The opportunity to contribute to decision-making and achieve some autonomy through developing self-discipline would appear to be conducive to the cricketers' persisting with their cricket participation. This relationship between the intrinsic motivation to persist with the sport is supportive of Weiss and Friederich's (1986) finding that a democratic decision-making style was a leader behaviour that related significantly to individual athlete satisfaction.

The third strategy advocated that coaches should attempt to develop, in the players they coach, an internal sense of control over their progress. Perceptions of this coaching behaviour correlated significantly for both under 15 groups with four dimensions of self-esteem (see Table 3). This finding is supportive of Harter's (1981) contention that socialising agents could impact upon the individual's sense of competence and control over outcomes in the individual's life. This finding supports those of Weiss, Ebbeck, McAuley and Wiese (1990). In a study of 69 boys and 62 girls aged 8 – 13 years, those found to be high in physical self-esteem made causal attributions for their success that were stable, internal and personally controllable, while those who were low in physical self-esteem, made attributions that were less personally controllable, less internal, and less stable.

The relationship between perceptions of this strategy and the cricket-specific self-perceptions of competence and success were found to be positive and significant for both under 15 groups (see Table 3). The better these cricketers understood the reasons for their success that they attributed to "own control", the more competent and successful they were likely to feel about their cricket involvement. This finding is supportive of McAuley's (1985) finding that "high success" achieved amongst 52 female collegiate gymnasts were due to performance scores that comprised more internal, stable and controllable attributions.

As for the previous two strategies, significant positive relationships were found for three of the sample groups' perceptions of this strategy and their likelihood of persisting with cricket the following season (see Table 3). This finding concurred with Horn's (1987) review in which she contended that an internal perception of control has been associated with positive achievement behaviours such as persistence, task motivation and a high expectancy of success.

Pearson Product Moment Correlations Between Self-Perceptions and the Perceptions of Coaching Focused on Developing the Cricketer's Internal Sense of Control and on his Enjoyment of Cricket.

	Internal control	Coaching for enjoyment
	15 HS	15 LS	14 HS	14 LS	15 HS	15 LS	14 HS	14 LS
Global selfworth	.31*	.52***	.19	.10	.02	.47**	.07	-.06
Athletic competence	.43***	.45**	.09	.04	.06	.40**	-.11	-.11
Physical appearance	.26*	.32*	.31**	.16	-.02	.35*	.12	-.12
Peer acceptance	.28*	.33*	.19	.10	-.12	.07	-.01	-.03
Behavioral conduct	.10	.40**	.05	.04	-.05	.54***	.09	-.12
Cricket competence	.53***	.52***	.08	.11	.11	.48**	-.03	.02
Cricket success	.55***	.50***	.07	.16	.36**	.55***	.07	.03
Cricket persistence	.50***	.55***	.46***	.22	.43***	.63***	.29*	.25*

Note. *p< .05, ** = p< .01, *** = p< .001 HS = high skilled, LS = less skilled

The fourth strategy synthesised from the literature on self-esteem in youth sport and focused on in this paper contended that coaches must coach for a reduction of anxiety and pressure in seeking to coach for enjoyment and pleasure. Responses to a single statement tapped into the cricketers' perceptions of the extent to which their coaches' coaching made their cricket "an enjoyable experience." The reason for finding significant positive relationships between perceptions of this strategy and four dimensions of self-esteem (see Table 3) for the Under 15 less skilled group alone, is not easily explained. Does this point to a specific sporting environment in which coaches and athletes' experience an absence of the constraining pressures experienced within an elite sporting atmosphere pervaded by more extrinsic forms of motivation and a tendency towards greater ego-orientation? Did this group include what Siedentop (1995) described as the "persisting group" with caring, supportive and instructive adult leadership?

This group again features prominently in terms of the relationship between perceptions of this strategy and perceptions of cricket competence and cricket success (see Table 3). The absence of a significant relationship for either of the Under 14 groups remains conspicuous and deserves further investigation. The instability of teams would have prohibited consistent identification with a single coach over time. This is again suggested as a possible factor that prevented the establishment of such a relationship. Perhaps coaches of this group are more concerned with the process of team selection for much of the time and therefore, preoccupied with management issues at the expense of efforts at satisfying the needs of individual cricketers.

The significant positive relationship found for all four groups between perceptions of coaching aimed at enjoyment and persistence in the game of cricket is only surprising in its contrast to the dearth of relationships found for the first year cricketers. This finding supports the work of Ommundsen and Vaglum (1991) that found coach behaviour as one of four predictors of soccer enjoyment. Additionally, this finding is supportive of the work of Scanlan, Carpenter, Schmidt, Simons, and Keeler (1993) who found that sport enjoyment was a dominant predictor of sport commitment which they defined as a construct "representing the desire and resolve to continue sport participation" (p.6). Competence motivation theory (Harter, 1981) contends that when the socialising agents have co-operated with the individual's natural desire for mastery, the outcome will be an individual who is intrinsically motivated to persist and achieve further mastery.

To conclude, five points deserve a mention. First, the hypothesised relationship between the cricketers' perceptions of their coaches' application of the coaching strategies and the categories of self-perceptions was partially supported. Further clarification is needed in terms of the variance found for the different groups. Second, the face validity of the four strategies would seem sufficiently logical to support further inquiry and efforts at implementation and refinement. While the intention in this study was to investigate perceptions of coaching behaviour, further clarification is required of the nature of the coaching behaviour that results in favourable athlete perceptions. Third, junior sports coaches should be educated as to the possible implications of the relationship between athlete perceptions of coaching behaviour and athlete self-perceptions. Fourth, the impact of trained coaches on the self-esteem of cricketers who record low pre-season self-esteem scores should be conducted. Fifth, the sport environment of the first year cricketer at secondary school should be investigated with special attention given to the factors influencing the cricketers' perceptions of coaching behaviour.

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References

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Copyright sociology of sport online, 1999

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