| Each year, large numbers of youth enter organized sport programs, only to have equally large numbers dropout (Gould & Petlichkoff, 1988). Perceived competence and intrinsic motivation have been found to be consistent predictors of athletes' engagement in sport. Two social cognitive theories of motivation address these important constructs, namely goal perspective theory (Nicholls, 1984, 1989) and self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 1992), respectively. These two approaches have not only been used as conceptual frameworks for much of sport research, but it has been suggested that they share some important theoretical links (Duda, Chi, Newton, Walling, & Catley, 1995).; The purpose of this study was to compare and contrast these two theories while testing their ability to predict retention and attrition in an organized youth sport program. In doing so, this research makes three important contributions to the sport literature. First, by taking a multi-theory approach, it provides a chance to better understand some of the conceptual similarities between the two theories. Second, this study strengthened theory testing by including objective, behavioral measures in addition to the typical psychosocial measures used in sport research. And third, this research employed structural equation modeling (path analyses) in order to simultaneously examine the complex network of relationships proposed by each theory.; The findings revealed that neither perceived ability nor intrinsic motivation directly predicted athletes' behavior. Across both theories' models, athletes' intention to be active in their sport was the primary predictor of their actual behavior. Intention itself was predicted by both individual difference variables and contextual influences. Lastly, path analyses and exploratory factor analyses revealed conceptual similarities between the two theories. It was proposed that the unifying principle underlying both theories is the promotion of an internal style of behavioral regulation. |
