Climate and Motivation for Women Athletes in Palestine.

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that motivate women athletes to participate in sport in Palestine and the motivational climate created by coaches and parents. Additionally, participants' commitment to sport was investigated as well as the social constraints that Palestinian women athletes face. Participants (n= 107) included women athletes who were members of the following sport federations: soccer, volleyball, basketball, table tennis, and track and field. The athletes were asked to complete the following surveys: 1) Sport Motivation Scale, 2) the Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire-2, 3) the Parent-Initiated Motivational Climate Questionnaire, and, 4) the Sport Commitment Model Scale. T-test and multiple regression analysis were utilized between the variables in the study as well as descriptive statistics. The results indicated women athletes in Palestine reported more intrinsic motivation to play sport than extrinsic motivation. Also, motivational climate created by the coach was the only factor to predict women's motivation to play their sport. Finally, women athletes in Palestine are highly committed to their sport.Key words: sport, women athletes, motivationIntroductionOne of the most popular approaches to examining motivation in sport is self-determination theory (SDT) which suggests that behavior can be intrinsically motivated, extrinsically motivated, or that amotivation can exist (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Deci 2000a). Intrinsic motivation refers to engaging in an activity purely for the pleasure and satisfaction derived from doing the activity (Ryan & Deci, 2000b). Researchers found by encouraging and fostering intrinsic motivation in sport teams, a more positive social and task cohesion among the team can be created (Halbrook, Blom, Hurley, Bell & Holden, 2012). Therefore, it is critical to clearly understand the type of motivation that the players hold, particularly in reference to gender. Researchers suggested that women athletes compared to men athletes were more likely to participate in any sport activity for the intrinsic rewards (Sarrazin, Vallerand, Guillet, Pelletier & Cury, 2002). Previous research has identified three types of intrinsic motivation: intrinsic motivation to know, intrinsic motivation toward accomplishments, and intrinsic motivation to experience stimulation (Pelletier et al., 1995). Intrinsic motivation to know implies engaging in activities for the pleasure and the satisfaction one experiences while learning, exploring, or trying to understand something new. Intrinsic motivation toward accomplishments can be defined as engaging in an activity for the pleasure and satisfaction experienced when one attempts to excel or create something. Finally, intrinsic motivation to experience stimulation operates when one is engaged in an activity for the fun or the experience of stimulating sensation derived from one's engagement in the activity (Pelletieret al., 1995). Extrinsic motivation pertains to a wide variety of behaviors people engage in as a means to attain some separable outcome (Ryan & Deci, 2000b). Researchers have proposed different types of extrinsic motivation can be ordered along a self-determination continuum (Ryan, Connell, & Grolnick, 1992). The third dimension of self-determination theory is amotivation, which takes place when contingencies are perceived between the behavior and their outcomes. The individual is not intrinsically or extrinsically motivated but only feels incompetence and loss of control (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2000). The motivation for participating in sport and striving for improvement is likely to vary considerably from person to person (Montague, 2008). Pederson (2002) suggested that men and women had a similar pattern of sport motives and they participated in sport mainly for intrinsic reasons. Further, the type of motivational factors "intrinsic or extrinsic" depends upon the personal characteristic of the participants as well as the type and amount of sport participation and whether this sport participation is casual or intense, individual or group, coerced or chosen (Pedersen, 2002). …