Correlates of motivational climate in sport: a meta-analysis

The purpose of the current investigation was to synthesize the motivational climate literature to determine the relationships (effects) between mastery and performance climates and several different outcomes and moderating variables in sport contexts. Standard meta-analytic procedures using inclusion criteria to conduct literature searches, coding procedures, and statistical analyses on 87 studies with 88 independent samples. Cohen's (1988) criteria for correlations were used to determine the strength of the relationship between variables and moderators. Results indicated that there were significant small positive to large positive effects for between mastery climate and adaptive outcomes and small negative effects with maladaptive outcomes. There were significant small to moderate positive effects between performance climate perceptions and maladaptive outcomes and small negative relationships to adaptive outcomes. Moderator analyses revealed that there significant differences for the methodological characteristic activity and the sample characteristic age. Findings suggest that coaches would benefit from implementing strategies that improve athlete perceptions of a mastery climate.