Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Can't We All Just Get Along? The Impact Of Goal Orientation On The Coach-Athlete Relationship And Coach-Athlete Communication, Meredith J. Nordbrock

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Research has demonstrated that the coach-athlete relationship is one of the key interpersonal factors that influences outcomes such as performance (Sánchez, Borrás, Leite, Battaglia, & Lorenzo, 2009), satisfaction with performance (Jowett & Don Carolis, 2003), and dropout rates (Fraser-Thomas, Côté, & Deakin, 2008). However, relatively little is known about the factors necessary to achieve and/or maintain a high-quality coach-athlete relationship. Building upon Jowett and Poczwardowski’s (2007) integrated research model, this study of 355 coach-athlete dyads explored how congruence (i.e., similarity, fit) of goal orientation (GO) impacted the quality of the coach-athlete relationship and coach-athlete communication. Specifically, it was hypothesized that …