Achievement goals and coping in sport

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the role that achievement motivation plays in our understanding of coping responses and strategies in sport. First, we outline the tenets of achievement goal theory by focusing on the original approaches championed by Nicholls (1984) and Dweck (1986), as well as the role of motivational climate (Ames, 1992) as a key situational factor. The body of academic knowledge illustrating the potential relationships between task and ego goals and coping is then reviewed. As an antecedent of coping-related behavior, a high task goal has been consistently associated with adaptive forms of coping, whereas an ego goal has been related to less adaptive coping responses. However, the methodological sophistication of past studies, the lack of understanding of the combined effects of task/ego goals, and the scarcity of studies at a situational level leaves many questions unanswered. A number of relevant future directions for this research area are therefore presented. © 2010 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.